


p 







JIM GOT IN AT LEAST ONE GOOD BLOW. —[See page 21S.] 






THE ICE QUEEN 


By ERNEST INGERSOLL 

AUTHOR OP 

“ FRIENDS WORTH KNOWING,” “ KNOCKING ROUND THE ROCKIES,” ETC. 


ILLUSTRATED 



HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1884, by 
HARPER & BROTHERS, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 


All rights reserved. 


CONTENTS, 


OT ' lP - PAGE 

I. Thrown upon their Own Resources 9 

II. “The Youngster’s” Plan 15 

III. Fitting out the “Red Erik” 22 

IY. Making a Start 30 

Y. Comfort in a Log Cabin 36 

YI. Norse Tales 47 

YII. The First Day on the Lake 57 

YIII. Jim’s Rebellion 66 

IX. Skating by Compass 79 

X. An Ugly Ferriage 89 

XI. Camping against an Ice Wall 94 

XII. Snowed Under 102 

XIII. Saved from Starvation 108 

XIY. The Arctic Visitors 117 

XV. Christmas Bird-catching 122 

XYI. How Tug Made “Twitch-ups” 130 

XVII. The Breaking up of the Ice . . . 138 

XVIII. Rescuing the Wanderers 145 

XIX. Adrift on an Ice Raft 155 

XX. A Night in an Open Boat 167 

XXI. The Escape to the Shore 176 

XXII. Rex Fights Unknown Enemies 179 


6 Contents . 

OHAP. PAGE 

XXIII. Exploring the Island 182 

XXIV. The Wild Dogs again 193 

XXV. The Perils of a Midnight Search 202 

XXVI. Finding Snow-birds and Losing the Captain . . . 205 
XXVII. Another Encounter with the Wild Dogs .... 214 

XXVIII. The Accident Explained 221 

XXIX. Deciding upon a New Move 229 

XXX. Katy Tames the Wild Dogs 233 

XXXI. Abandoning the Island 237 

XXXII. An Astonished Farmer 245 

XXXIII. The “Times” Correspondent 251 

XXXIV. A Happy Conclusion 255 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

“Jim Got in at least One Good Blow” Fi ' ontispiece . 

Discussing the Plan 19 

“A Moment Later They were Off” 33 

Supper in the Log Cabin 41 

“Lay on !” 51 

Crossing the Hummock 67 

Jim and Katy Bringing the Rushes to Camp 75 

“The Little Fire was soon Blazing Merrily ” 85 

Camping against an Ice Wall 97 

“A Sharp Report was Heard” 115 

Katy Trapping the Snow-buntings 127 

Setting the New Traps 131 

“Rex Struck out and Swam across” 151 

“They were Able to Drag his Lifeless Form out upon the 

Ice” 157 

“Try to Steady Her” 169 

The Cabin on the Island 187 

Attacked by the Dogs 199 

“Don’t Cry, Katy!” 209 

“ ‘Is he Dead?’ asked Jim” 223 

Repairing the Old Scow 239 

“ ‘ Wa’al, I Declare!’ ” 247 



THE ICE QUEEN. 


Chapter I. 

THROWN UPON THEIR OWN RESOURCES. 

The early dusk of a December day was fast changing into 
darkness as three of the young people with whose advent- 
ures this story is concerned trudged briskly homeward. 

The day was a bright one, and Aleck, the oldest, who was 
a skilled workman in the brass foundry, although scarcely 
eighteen years of age, had given himself a half-holiday in 
order to take Kate and The Youngster on a long skating 
expedition down to the lighthouse. Kate was his sister, two 
years younger than he, and The Youngster was a brother 
whose twelfth birthday this was. 

The little fellow never had had so much fun in one after- 
noon, he thought, and maintained stoutly that he scarcely 
felt tired at all. The ice had been in splendid condition, 
the day calm, but cloudy, so that their eyes had not ached, 


io The Ice Queen. 

and they had been able to go far out upon the solidly frozen 
surface of the lake. 

“ How far do you think we have skated to day, Aleck V 9 
asked The Youngster. 

“ It’s four miles from the lower bridge to the lighthouse,” 
spoke up Kate, before Aleck could reply, “ and four back. 
That makes eight miles, to begin with.” 

“ Yes,” said Aleck, “ and on top of that you must put — 
let me see — I should think, counting all our twists and 
turns, fully ten miles more. We were almost abreast of 
Stony Point when we were farthest out, and they say that’s 
five miles long.” 

“ Altogether, then, we skated about eighteen miles.” 

“ Right, my boy ; your arithmetic is your strong point.” 

“Well, / should say his feet were his strong point to- 
day,” Kate exclaimed, in admiration of her brother’s hardi- 
hood. 

“ It wasn’t a bad day’s work for a girl I know of, either,” 
remarked Aleck, as he took the key from his pocket and 
opened the door of their house, which was soon bright with 
lamplight and a crackling fire of oak and hickory. 

The house these three dwelt in was a small cottage in an 
obscure street of the village, but it was warm and tight. 
Kate was housekeeper, and The Youngster — whose real 
name was James, contracted first into Jim, and then into 


The Ice Queen . 


1 1 

Jimkin — was man-of -all- work, and maid-of-all-work too, 
sometimes, when Kate needed his help. 

While these two are getting tea, and Aleck is carefully 
wiping the skates and putting them away where no rust can 
have a chance at the blades, or mice gnaw the straps, let 
me tell you a few things about the family. 

Jim could remember his father only vaguely, but Kate 
and Aleck could tell us all about him. His name was 
Kincaid, and he was a master-builder of houses. He had 
bought and fitted up the cottage, and had put savings in 
the bank, though Mrs. Kincaid was sick much of the time, 
so that money was spent that would have been laid by “ for 
a rainy day ” if she had been # strong and well. 

Unfortunately, the rain came sooner than any one thought 
for. One day, about five years before the beginning of our 
little history, papa was brought home hurt by falling from 
a scaffold at the top of a house. He was not dead, and all 
thought he would be well again in a few weeks at most ; 
but instead he grew slowly worse, and after a time died. 

Then the poor mother, always weak, did the best she 
could, and Kate tried to help her, while Aleck stopped his 
school-going, and went to work in the brass foundry. At 
first, though, he could earn but a little, and Mr. Kincaid’s 
savings slowly melted away until almost nothing was left. 
Then the tired and desolate mother, never strong, bade her 


12 


The Ice Queen. 


children that long farewell that seems so terribly hopeless 
to all of us when we are young, and the three “ mitherless 
bairns ” were thrown upon their own resources. 

The question arose as to what they should do. Jim was 
now eight years old, and going to school. Kate had not 
neglected to do some studying, and a great deal of reading, 
too, though she had always been so busy ; and a few weeks 
before her mother’s death she had begun to study regularly 
with a lady who lived near, whom Katy repaid by picking 
various small fruits as they matured in the lady’s large 
garden. Aleck, as I have said, was working steadily, and 
getting enough wages to keep them all in fair comfort, since 
they owned the house and enough garden to give them plenty 
of vegetables. So, after talking the prospect over, they 
decided to stay in their little house and live together. A 
letter was written to Uncle Andrew, in Cleveland, who had 
offered Kate and Jimmy a home, telling him they would try 
it alone a while before burdening any of their friends. 

This decision had been made almost four years before my 
story opens, and it had not been regretted. They had even 
saved some money, but the larger part of this had been 
spent in repairing the house, and in fitting up a new boat 
for Jim and one of his friends, who thought they knew a 
way to make a little money in the summer vacation if they 
had a good boat. This boat had been completed only in 


The Ice Queen . 


13 


time to prove how good it was, before the winter had 
closed the river with ice at an unusually early date, and 
now the pretty craft was safely stored in a warehouse at the 
schooner-landing, a mile below the town. 

All slept very soundly after their skating holiday — even 
Eex, the great Newfoundland dog, who was a member of 
the family by no means to be overlooked ; but their ears 
were not stopped so tight that the clangor of the church 
bells about midnight failed to arouse them with its dreadful 
alarm of fire. Hastening to an upper window, one glance 
at the blaze-reddened heavens showed our friends that the 
group of factories in the southern part of the town was 
burning, and one of these was the brass foundry where 
Aleck worked. 

Aleck hurried away, and they did not see him until after 
sunrise, when he came home tired, wet, and soot-blackened. 
The whole shop had burned to the ground, he reported, and 
it was only by great risk and exertion that he had been able 
to rescue his father’s precious chest of tools. 

“ I didn’t think,” said the young man, as he sat wearily 
down to Katy’s hot coffee, “ that my job would be so short 
when McAbee told me yesterday I could work there ‘as 
long as the foundry lasted.’ ” 

During that day and the next Aleck tried every possible 
chance of employment in the village, but found nothing; 


14 


The Ice Queen . 


and by the time evening came he had made up his mind 
that no regular employment equal to his old place was to be 
had there for months Jo come. 

There was no doubt about it. The time had arrived 
when they must avail themselves of Uncle Andrew’s kind- 
ness, and seek in his hospitable house at least a temporary 
home. 


Chapter II. 

“ THE YOUNGSTER’S ” PLAN. 

“ You see,” said Aleck, “ though I’ve about seventy-five 
dollars ahead, yet when we have bought what we shall 
need, there will not be more than forty dollars left. Now, 
if we go to Cleveland in the cars and take our things with 
us, it’ll cost us twenty-five dollars or more, and leave us 
almost nothing to get started with there.” 

“ S’posin’,” said Jimkin the Wise, “s’posin’ we don’t go 
in the cars. Cleveland’s on the lake, and the lake’s all ice ; 
let’s skate down to uncle’s !” 

“ Humph !” grunted Aleck. 

“ Pshaw !” said Kate. 

“ Didn’t we skate eighteen miles yesterday, and couldn’t 
we have gone farther ?” persisted Jim, unabashed. 

“It’s more than a hundred miles to Cleveland. Think 
you could do that in one day? Besides, how would you 
know the way ?” 

“Didn’t say I could do it in one day. But couldn’t we 
go ashore and stop at night ? That’s the way the Hall boys 
did, who skated up to Detroit last winter.” 


i6 


The Ice Queen . 


“ I read in the newspaper yesterday,” said Kate, “ that the 
lake was frozen uncommonly hard, and was solid ice all the 
way along the shore as far as the headlands of Ashtabula.” 

“If we could be sure of that,” Aleck admitted, “ there 
might be some use in trying ; but one can’t be sure. Be- 
sides, how could we take along our baggage?” 

“ Pull it on a sled,” said Kate, “ the way they do in the 
arctic regions. Men up there just live on the ice, sleep at 
night and cook their food and travel all day, and they don’t 
have skates either. Gracious ! Who can that be ?” 

No wonder Katy was astonished, for there came echoing 
through the house a noise as if somebody was pounding 
the wall down with a stone maul. Aleck hastened to put a 
stop to it by opening the door. 

He was greeted by the grinning face of a round-headed, 
chunky lad nearly his own age, named Thucydides Mont- 
gomery ; but as this was too long a name for the Western 
people, it had been cut down very early in life to “ Tug,” 
which everybody saw at once was the right word, on ac- 
count of the lad’s strength and toughness. The mammas 
of the village thought him a bad boy, getting their infor- 
mation from the small boys of the public school, whom, in 
his great fondness for joking, he would sometimes frighten 
and tease. 

Aleck knew him better, and knew how brave and good- 


The Ice Queen . 


l 7 


hearted he was. Jim had good cause to be fond of him, for, 
in behalf of The Youngster, during his first week at school, 
Tug had soundly thrashed a bullying tyrant ; while Kate 
gratefully remembered various heavy market-baskets he had 
carried for her, since he lived near by. A closer tie be- 
tween our little family and their visitor, however, was the 
fact that, like them, he was an orphan, and, like them, had 
relatives in Cleveland, whom he had often thought he should 
like to be with better than staying with his aunt here in 
Mon ore. 

When Tug had joined the circle gathered before the big 
fireplace, and had begun to talk about the brass-works, he 
was promptly hushed by Aleck. 

“ Put that up now, and attend to me. This urchin here, 
who has become very cheeky since he began to go to 
school — ” 

“ And came under my care,” Tug interrupted, loftily. 

“ Yes, no doubt. Well, The Youngster finds we all want 
to go to Cleveland, but can’t afford the railway fare, and so 
he coolly proposes that we skate there.” 

“Well, why don’t you do it? I’ll go with you,” said 
Tug, quietly. 

Jim shouted with triumph. Kate laughed, and clapped 
her hands at the fun of beating her big brother, and Aleck 
looked as though he thought he was being quizzed. 

2 


i8 


The Ice Queen . 


“ Do you mean it ?” he asked. 

“ Of course I do. I want to go down as badly as you do. 
I haven’t any stamps, and the walking, I’m told, isn’t good. 
I prefer to skate.” 

“Katy says we might drag our luggage on sleds, as they 
do in the arctic regions ; but supposing the ice should break 
up, or we should come to a big crack ?” 

“ I have read,” Kate remarks again, “ that they carry boats 
on their sledges, and pack their goods in the boats, so that 
they will float if the ice gives way.” 

“ Take my boat !” screamed Jim, eagerly. 

“ That would call for a big sled.” 

“Well, didn’t you two fellows build a pair of bobs last 
winter big enough to carry that boat ?” 

“Doubtful,” answered Aleck. But when they brought 
out the plan of the boat, and then measured the bobs, which 
were stored in the woodshed, they found them plenty wide, 
and Tug was sure they were sufficiently strong. 

Kate looked at them rather dubiously, and said she had 
never read of arctic boats mounted on heavy bobs, but that 
they always seemed in the pictures to have long, light run- 
ners under them; but Jim reminded her curtly that “girls 
didn’t know everything,” so she kept still, and the planning 
and talking went on. 

Young people who are under no necessity to ask permis- 



DISCUSSING THE PLAN, 




The Ice Queen . 


21 


sion of older persons, and, besides, are pushed by circum- 
stances, decide quickly on a plan which looks forward to 
adventure. Generally, I fear, they come to grief, and learn 
some good lessons rather expensively ; but sometimes their 
energy and fearlessness carry them safely through what the 
caution of old age would have stopped short of trying to 
perform. 

They sat up pretty late discussing the plan, but before 
Tug went to what he said he “ s’posed he must call home,” 
they had determined to try it if the weather held firm. 

This was on Friday. They hoped to get away early in 
the coming week. Then all three went to bed, Jim jubilant, 
and looking forward to a long frolic ; Kate half doubtful 
whether it was best, but hopeful ; Aleck sure that, for him- 
self, he didn’t care, hating to put his sister and brother 
to any risk, yet seeing no better way of resisting poverty ; 
Tug resolute, and bound to stand by his friends, whatever 
happened. So they slept, and bright and early next morn- 
ing the quiet preparations began, Tug declining to answer 
any questions as to how he arranged the matter of his going 
with his aunt. 


Chapter III. 

FITTING OUT THE “RED ERIK.” 

The first thing was to settle upon tlieir preparations. 

“ What will you want to take, Tug ?” 

“ Precious little, I guess. Besides my clothing, which 
won’t make much of a bundle, I don’t own much except my 
shot-gun, and my weasel-trap, and my odds-and-ends chest, 
and some hooks and lines. I’m going to sell all the rest of 
my duds.” 

“Who’ll buy ’em?” asked Jim, doubtfully. 

“Never you mind who, infant. ‘This stock must be 
closed out below cost,’ as the old-clo’ men say. I can put 
all my baggage in a nail-keg.” 

“ Then that’s fixed,” Aleck remarked. “ Now for you , 
Katy?” 

“ I think the little trunk that was mamma’s, and my hand- 
bag for brush and comb and such things, will hold all that 
belongs to me — that is, of my own own” she replied, laugh- 
ing. “ Of course, the cooking things, and so on, belong to 
all of us.” 


The Ice Queen . 


23 


“Well, Jim, your traps and mine will go into the other 
little chest, I think — at any rate, they must. Now for the 
general list.” 

The general outfit was then talked over for more than 
an hour, when, looking at his watch, Aleck said : 

“ Now this plan all depends on what luck I have in rent- 
ing the house. I heard yesterday that Mr. Porter (the 
owner of the burned factory) would have to leave the hotel, 
and wanted to find a small furnished house. I am going to 
see if I can’t let ours to him.” 

So Aleck went off, and Tug and Jim started down to ex- 
amine the boat, study how much she would hold, and see 
-what would be the best way of mounting her upon the 
bobs, which they spoke of as “ the sledge.” They were not 
back until afternoon, and found that Aleck had just come 
in, full of success. Mr. Porter would rent the house, and 
would allow them a closet in which to store all the small 
goods they wished to leave behind. 

“Now, what about the boat?” he asked, as he concluded 
the story. 

“She’ll do beautifully. Jim and I think we’d better 
deck her over from the mast forward, and cover it with 
painted canvas, so as to make a water-tight place to stow 
the provisions.” 

“ That’s a good idea.** 


24 


The Ice Queen . 


“We thought you’d say so, and so we took exact meas- 
urements, and can make a deck here, and fasten it on down 
there.” 

“ All right ; now, how do you think we’d better fasten 
the boat to the sledge ?” 

“ That’s where we want you to help us decide. I don’t 
believe its weight is great enough to hold it firm.” 

“It’s the first thing to be arranged,” said Aleck, “and 
after dinner I guess we’ll have to go down to the wharf.” 

An hour later the three boys were standing beside the 
boat, gazing first at it and then at the pair of strong bobs 
they had brought along. 

“We must take that coasting-board off the bobs and put 
in a heavy reach-pole pretty near as long as the boat, that’s 
certain,” said Tug. 

“And,” spoke up Jimmy, “we’ve got to prop her up on 
the sledge so she’ll stand even, and won’t tip.” 

“ Yes, you’re both right,” Aleck agreed. “ The best way 
is to saw chairs out of two-inch plank which will just fit 
her bottom, and in which she will sit solidly.” 

“ But,” Tug broke in, “ that won’t hold her firm in the 
racket she has to go through. She must be bound down to 
that sledge, and I reckon the best way is to draw bands 
of stout canvas — big straps would cost too much — over the 
boat, from one side of the sledge to the other.” 


The Ice Queen. 


25 


They examined and re-examined, but could none of them 
see any better plan ; so they measured, and on their way 
home bought enough of the heaviest duck to make three 
bands, each three inches wide. 

This transaction brought out a bit of Tug’s loyalty. As 
Aleck took out his purse to pay for the canvas, Tug pushed 
his hand away and laid a dollar bill on the counter. 

“ You can just put up your cash,” he cried. “ This is my 
affair. If you fellows furnish the boat and sledge and all 
the rest, I’m going to pay, myself, for what new stuff we 
have to buy. It’s little enough I can do, anyhow.” 

With this view there was no use of arguing, and Tug had 
his way that day and during all the rest of the prepara- 
tion, spending the whole of his savings and the money re- 
ceived from the sale of his books and “ contraptions.” 

While Tug sawed out the chairs, and screwed and spiked 
them firmly to the sledge that evening, the other two boys 
worked at the bands, and Katy sewed. They all sat in the 
kitchen, in order to be where Tug could work, and before 
they went to bed both tasks were nearly done. 

The next day was Sunday. 

On Monday the sledge was finished, and the boat was 
set upon it. Tacking tightly over it the canvas bands, 
two in front and one towards the stern, the whole affair 


26 The Ice Queen . 

proved almost as stiff and firm as though formed of one 
piece. 

“ What was the boat’s name ?” you may feel like inter- 
rupting me to ask. 

It had not been christened yet, but when, as they sat by 
the fire on Sunday evening, Katy read aloud the story of 
“ Red Erik,” they all agreed that that was the name they 
wanted. 

Now the Red Erik was fitted to carry one mast, which 
passed through a hole in the forward thwart, and was 
stepped into a block underneath. The sail carried by 
this mast was a square sail of pretty good size, supported 
by a gaff at the top and a boom at the bottom. When 
it was not in use it was rolled around the mast, the gaff 
and boom being laid lengthwise along with it ; and by 
wrapping the sheet around, the whole was lashed into a 
bundle, which lay very snugly upon the thwarts under 
one gunwale, where a couple of leather gaskets were 
buckled about it to keep it from sliding. There was also 
a jib-sail. 

While they were overhauling this gear, the question of 
what they were to do for a tent came up, and Katy asked 
whether the sails could not be made useful for that purpose. 

Certainly, the mainsail was large enough to form a very 
decent shelter when stretched over a low ridge-pole, but it 


The Ice Queen. 


27 

needed loops of rope at the ends in order to be pegged to 
the ground and thus held in place. 

“ But there ain’t any ground, and you can’t drive wooden 
pegs into ice,” objected Katy, at this point of the planning. 

“ Then,” said Aleck, “we shall have to get half a dozen 
iron pegs, and I have some railway spikes that will be just 
the thing.” 

“ That’s so,” said Tug. “ Take ’em along. Now, the next 
thing is poles. The gaff will do for one, but the other one 
we’ll have to make, because we want to use the boom for a 
ridge-pole.” 

“ Then I’ll tell you how we’ll fix it,” Aleck explained. 
“ We’ll put an eye-bolt in the far end of the boom, and call 
that the front end of the tent. We’ll make a front upright 
post out of hickory, and have the lower end of it shod with 
iron, so as to stick in the ice — ” 

“Hold up! I’ve a better idea than that even,” Tug ex- 
claimed. “ I suppose you want to save carrying any more 
timber than you can help. Well, let’s cut off the handle of 
the boat-hook — that’s hickory — until it is the right length, 
and its iron point will stick in the ice, or the ground (if we 
set her up ashore) first-rate. Then we’ll go to the black- 
smith, and have a cap made with a spike in it to go through 
the eye in the end of the boom. When we want to use the 
boat-hook we can take the cap off.” 


28 


The Ice Queen . 


“ That’s a good way ; but how about the gaff ?” 

“ Set a short spike in the far end to stick in the ice, and 
let the ridge-pole rest in the jaws of the gaff ; the canvas 
will hold her steady.” 

“ Yes, I suppose so. You’re an inventor, Tug. Go down 
to-morrow and get the irons made.” 

Meanwhile, as I said, loops were sewed on the sail, and it 
was thus arranged to serve as a tent. It had a queer shape 
when set up in the yard on trial, for the sail was broader 
at one end than the other, though it did very well indeed. 
An end piece was lacking ; but this was supplied by putting 
on tapes so as to tie the broad foot of the jib to one edge of 
the rear of the tent, while the sharp top end was folded 
around on the outside and tied to one of the side pegs. For 
the front they could do no better than hang up a shawl or 
something of that kind, if needed, since they decided that a 
few yards square of spare canvas which they had must be 
kept for a carpet upon the ice floor. 

This done, there remained to screw into the forward end 
of the sledge two eye-bolts, to which the ropes were to be 
attached for dragging the boat. Each of these ropes was 
about twelve feet long, and had at one end an iron hook, so 
as to be put on and taken off very quickly. Three of them 
were prepared, but, as you will see, it was rare that more 
than two were ever in use at once on the march. They 


The Ice Queen . 


29 


could easily be hooked together into one long line, however ; 
two of them would serve as end-stays when the tent was set 
up ; and they were often of the greatest importance to the 
young adventurers, in enabling them to overcome difficul- 
ties, or to extricate themselves from some perplexing or 
dangerous situation. 

All these arrangements, by hard work, were finished on 
Tuesday evening, the very last task being the making of a 
box with double-hinged covers, which should fit snugly un- 
der the stern-thwart. This was to be the kitchen chest or 
mess kit, holding the cooking utensils and dishes. When 
its two covers were spread out and propped up it formed a 
low table. 


1 


Chapter IV. 

MAKING A START. 

Katy, meanwhile, had been looking after clothing and pro- 
visions. On Tuesday evening, when Tug came in after tea, 
she was ready to read to him a full list, as follows : 

Boat Outfit. — Sailing and rowing gear complete; one 
piece of spare canvas three yards square ; one oil lantern 
and a gallon of oil ; one compass ; a locker under the stroke- 
thwart, containing calking-iron, oakum, putty, copper 
nails, gimlet, screw-driver, screws, sail needle, thread, wax, 
etc. 

Camp Outfit. — Tent ( made out of the sails), pegs, poles, 
etc. ; one axe ; one hatchet ; one small handsaw ; one shovel ; 
one clothes-line ; one mess chest, containing the fewest pos- 
sible dishes, tin cups, knives, forks, etc., also a skillet, a cof- 
fee-pot, etc. ; one iron kettle ; one covered copper pail. 

Personal Baggage. — One trunk for Aleck’s and Jim’s 
clothing; one trunk for Katy’s clothing; Tug’s box ( cloth- 
ing , and what he says are “ contractions ”) ; small valise for 
Katy’s toilet necessaries and other small articles. 


The Ice Queen . 31 

Bedding {tied up in close rolls). — For Aleck, three blank- 
ets and a thick quilt. 

For Jim, the same. 

For Tug, three blankets and a piece of old sail-cloth. 

For Katy, a buffalo -robe trimmed square, two flannel 
sheets, three blankets, and a heavy shawl. 

Thick woollen nightcaps or hoods for all. 

Food {enough to last two weeks, it is supposed, and consist- 
ing chiefly of the first seven articles named). — Corn-meal, 
coffee, sugar, crackers, dried beef, bacon, and ham ; also 
small quantities of potatoes, beans, dried corn, tea, chocolate, 
maple sugar, buckwheat flour, and condiments. (Katy did 
not count the luxuries of the first day’s evening meal.) 

All these supplies, as far as possible, were put into bags 
made of strong cloth or of heavy paper, or into wooden 
boxes, and then were stowed under the forward deck. To 
carry them and the rest of the luggage down to the wharf, 
a box was fastened upon Jim’s hand-sled, and several trips 
were made. 

At last Wednesday afternoon came, and the preparations 
for the adventurous journey were complete. All the morn- 
ing had been spent by Tug and Jim in packing away goods 
in the boat, while Aleck and Kate finished the home-leav- 
ing, bringing down a final sled-load with them about two 
o’clock. Besides this, Katy’s arms were full of “ suspicious- 


32 


The Ice Queen . 


looking ” bundles, as Tug noticed, the contents of which she 
refused to let any one know before night. 

The boat lay hidden underneath the warehouse wharf, and 
of the few who knew of their intentions nobody seemed to 
have let out the secret ; moreover, the day was unusually cold 
and somewhat windy, so that few skaters were out, at least, 
so far down the river. Thus they were not annoyed by in- 
quisitive visitors. Ten minutes after Aleck and Kate ar- 
rived the final package had been stowed, the mantle of can- 
vas spread over, the oars and rolled-up tent laid on top, and 
Tug announced everything ready. 

“ Then let’s be off,” said Aleck, as he buckled the last 
strap of his left skate, and stood up. 

“ Not till you give the word of command, Captain.” 

“ Captain !” echoed Jim, standing very straight. 

“ Captain !” Kate caught up the word, and made a funny 
girlish imitation of an officer’s salute. “ Not till you give 
the order, sir !” 

“ Oho !” laughed Aleck. “ That’s election by acclama- 
tion, I should say ! All right ; only, if I’m to be Captain, 
remember you must do as I say at once, and save any argu- 
ing about it until afterwards. When you get tired you can 
vote me out as you voted me in. Will you agree 

“ Yes — agreed !” cried all three. 

“ Then my first order is ‘ Forward !’ ” and so saying he 

























. 



















































The Ice Queen . 


35 


seized a drag-rope and sent the sledge-boat spinning out upon 
the smooth ice far from under the shadow of the wharf, 
showing how easily it could be run in spite of its weight, 
which was not less than five hundred pounds. 

A moment later they were off on the first strokes of a 
trip that proved far more eventful than any of them antici- 
pated — Aleck with the drag-rope, Tug by his side, Jim pull- 
ing his sled, Rex leaping and barking, and Kate bringing 
up the rear with her hands on the stern-rail of the boat. 
Two or three boys and men called after them, and one fol- 
lowed a little way, but he was sent back with short answers, 
and in a few moments the church spires, the big, bell-crowned 
cupola of the High School, and the lofty spans of the rail- 
way bridge had been left far behind. Not much was said, 
for even heedless Jim felt that this was a serious undertak- 
ing, and the pleasant scenes they had known so long might 
never be revisited. 


Chapter V. 

COMFORT IN A LOG CABIN. 

The pain of this farewell did not long cloud their faces. 
Tug and Jim had had no luncheon, and were growing 
anxious for something to eat. Down at the mouth of the 
river stood a small cabin, often occupied in early spring by 
the sportsmen who went for a day’s duck-sliooting in the 
great marshes that spread right and left on both sides of 
the stream. It was buried among big cottonwood and 
sycamore trees, and was pretty snug. Besides, it had a fire- 
place, into which somebody had stuck a long iron bolt 
pulled out of some bit of wreckage on the beach, and 
which served as a great convenience in the rude cooking 
of the sportsmen. 

At this cabin our party proposed to spend the first night. 
They thought it would be an easy letting down from sleep- 
ing in their beds at home to the tenting they feared they 
might have to do afterwards. Katy had been the one to 
suggest this, and Tug had earnestly supported the idea. 

“ Things don’t seem so hard when they come upon you 


The Ice Queen . 


37 


gradually, as the kind-hearted man said when he cut off his 
dog’s tail a little piece at a time, so the pup wouldn’t 
mind it.” 

The sun was just disappearing straight up the river be- 
hind them as the cabin came in sight ; and before its half- 
closed door 

“ "All bloody lay the untrodden snow,”* 

as Kate exclaimed, misquoting her “ Hohenlinden ” to suit 
the red glow of the rich evening light. 

“Hurrah for supper!” screamed Jim; and with an extra 
spurt they swung the boat up to the bank. 

A little sweeping with a broom made of an alder branch 
cleared the cabin of the snow that had blown into the 
cracks and fallen down the mud-and-stone chimney. This 
done, Aleck called to them to listen to his first orders, 
which he had written down in a note-book, and now read 
as follows : 

“ Captain’s Order Ho. 1 . — Any order given by the Cap- 
tain must be obeyed by the person to whom it is addressed, 
unless his reason for not doing so will not keep till camp- 
ing-time ; merely not liking the duty is no excuse. 

“ Captain’s Order Ho. 2. — The Captain will say when 
and where camp shall be made, and immediately upon stop- 
ping to camp the duties of each person shall be taken up 


38 


The Ice Queen . 


as follows : the Captain shall secure the boat, get out the 
tent, and proceed to set it up ; Tug shall take the axe and 
get fuel for the fire ; Kate shall see to the building of the 
fire and the preparation of food ; Jim shall help Kate, par- 
ticularly in carrying articles needed, and in getting water ; 
and all, when these special duties are finished, shall report 
to the Captain for futher duty. 

“ Captain’s Order No. 3. — Any complaints or sugges- 
tions must be made in council, which will commence after 
camp work is completed and supper is over, and not before.” 

“ There,” said Aleck, “ do you agree to that ?” 

“ Yes — agreed !” shouted three voices in chorus. 

“ Then pitch in, all of you ; you know your work.” 

At this Tug seized the axe, Aleck and Jim went to the 
sledge, and Katy began to kindle a little blaze on the 
hearth with some bits of dry wood she found lying about, 
so that when Tug had brought an armful of sticks, a good 
fire was quickly crackling. Then the iron pot, full of water, 
was hung upon the old spike, where the blaze began curl- 
ing around its three little black feet in a most loving way. 

“ Jimkin,” called the girl to her brother, who was gazing 
with delight at the bright fire, “ Jimkin, bring me all those 
paper packages at the stern of the boat, and be careful of 
the white one — it’s eggs.” 


The Ice Queen . 


39 


“I guess there won’t be much tent to set up to-night, 
Aleck,” he remarked, as he found the Captain, who had 
hauled the sledge well up on the bank and tied it securely 
to a tree, now busy in dragging out the sail. 

“No,” was the reply, “but the canvas’ll come handy. 
Tell Tug I say he’d better get a big heap of wood together, 
for we’re going to have a cold night. The wind has turned 
to the north, and is rising.” 

When he had taken the canvas up to the cabin, he called 
Jim to help him, and they brought in the mess chest, the 
rolls of bedding, and the piece of spare canvas which had 
covered the prow. Then, telling Jim to take the little 
sled that had been dragged behind the boat, and haul to 
the door the wood Tug had cut among the trees not far 
away, Aleck seized the shovel and began heaping snow 
against the northern side of the house, where there were 
many cracks between the lower logs. But his hard work 
to shut them up in this way seemed to be in vain, for the 
wind, which was blowing harder and harder every minute, 
whisked the snow away about as fast as he was able to pile 
it up. Kate, stepping out to see what he was about, came 
to his rescue with a happy thought. 

“ I read in Dr. Kane’s book of arctic travels, that when 
they make houses of snow they throw water on them, which 
freezes, and holds them firm and tight. Couldn’t you do 
that here ? It’s cold enough to freeze anything.” 


40 


The Ice Queen . 


Aleck thought he might, and bidding Kate go back to 
her fireside, he called the other boys to help him ; then, 
while Jim stuffed the cracks with snow, Aleck and Tug al- 
ternately brought water from a hole cut in the river ice, 
and dashed it against the chinking. Some of the water 
splashed through, and a good deal was tossed back in their 
faces and benumbed their hands, so that it was hard, cold 
work ; but before long a crust had formed over the snow- 
stuffed cracks, and Katy came to the door to say that she 
couldn’t feel a draught anywhere. The roof was pretty 
good, and when, tired and hungry, but warm with their exer- 
cise (except as to their toes and fingers), the three lads went 
in and shut the door, they found their quarters very snug, 
and didn’t mind how loud the gale howled among the trees 
outside. Kex, especially, seemed to enjoy it, curling down at 
the corner of the fireplace as though very much at home. 

Meanwhile Katy bustled about, setting out plates, knives, 
and forks on the top of the mess chest, which she had cov- 
ered with the clean white paper in which her packages had 
been wrapped. She had put eight eggs to boil in the ket- 
tle, which were now done, and were carefully fished out, 
w T hile the coffee-pot was bubbling on the coals, and letting 
fragrant jets of steam escape from under the loosely fitting 
cover. A cut loaf of bread lay on the table, and beside it 
a tumbler of currant jelly, “ as sure as I am a Dutchman ” 


SUPPER IN THE LOG OARTN 


























































































* 















































































































































The Ice Queen . 


43 


— which was Tug’s favorite way of putting a truth very 
strongly, indeed, though he wasn’t that kind of a man at 
all. The eagerness to taste this sweetmeat brought out the 
melancholy fact that by some accident there was only one 
spoon in the whole kit. 

“We’ll fix that all right this evening,” Aleck remarked. 
“ I’ll whittle wooden ones out of sycamore.” 

“ Shall I broil some mutton-chops, or will you save those 
for breakfast?” 

“ Broil ’em now,” cried Jim. 

“Hold your opinion, Youngster, till your elders are 
heard,” was Tug’s rejoinder. “I vote we save ’em.” 

“ So do I.” 

“And I.” 

“ Done,” says Captain Aleck. “ Give us the chops for 
breakfast, Miss Housekeeper.” 

“ Then supper’s all ready,” she said, and took her seat on 
a stick of wood, pouring and passing the coffee, while the 
eggs and the bread and butter went round. By the time 
the meal was finished it had become dark, but this did not 
matter, since there was no need to go out of doors. 

“ How shall I wash the dishes ?” asked Katy, with a com- 
ical grin, as she rose from the table. “ I couldn’t bring a 
big pan.” 

“Well,” suggested Aleck, “you can clean out your ket- 


44 


The Ice Queen. 


tie, refill it with water — Jim, there’s business for you ! — and 
then wash them in that.” 

“ That’s a matter never bothered me much when 1 was 
camping,” added Tug, dryly. “ I just scrubbed the plates 
with a wisp of grass, and cleaned the knives and forks by 
jabbing ’em into the ground a few times.” 

While the dishes were washing Aleck opened the tent 
bundle, and laid the mast across two pegs that somebody 
had driven into the north wall of the room just under the 
ceiling beams, perhaps to hang fishing -poles on. Then, 
with Tug’s aid, he tied to the mast the inner hem of the 
sail-cloth, which thus hung loosely against the wall, like a 
big curtain, shutting out every draught. 

“ That’s splendid !” cried Katy, watching them from the 
end of the room where the fire was. 

“ So is this!” came a voice from overhead, making them 
all look up in surprise. 

It was Jim, who, unnoticed by any one, had clambered 
into the loft, which had been floored over about two thirds 
of the room, and who was now thrusting his red face down 
through the open part. 

“ What do you think I’ve found ?” 

“Give it up. I knew of a man who died after asking 
conundrums all his life,” answered Tug, gravely, “ and I’ve 
fought shy of ’em since.” 


The Ice Queen . 


45 


“ Tell us at once, Jimkin,” called out Aleck. 

“Straw !” shouted Jim. 

“ Pshaw !” was the next rejoinder heard. 

“No rhymes, Katy,” Aleck admonished. a Is it clean, 
Youngster V* 

“ Cleaner than he is, I should say, by his face,” said Tug, 
and with some reason,, for the loft was dusty. 

“ Don’t know ; you can see for yourself,” and down came 
a great yellow armful. 

It was pounced upon, and, proving dry and fresh, the de- 
lighted Jim was ordered to send down all he could find, 
which was laid on the floor, not far from the fire, and 
covered with the spare canvas. This made a soft sort of 
mattress, upon which each one could spread his blankets, 
and sleep with great comfort, since there was plenty for 
all. 

“Sha’n’t have so good a bed as this another night,” 
groaned Aleck. 

“ Can’t tell — maybe better !” said the cheerful Tug. 

The warmest place was set apart for Katy, and Aleck 
made a small screen, covered with a newspaper curtain, 
which separated her from the other three, who were to 
sleep side by side. These preparations made, the fire was 
heaped high with fresh wood, and then the little quartet 
took their ease, lounging on the springy straw before it, 


46 


The Ice Queen. 


and indulging in a quiet talk over the busy day just fin- 
ished, or what they were likely to meet on the morrow. 

Aleck said something about being able to travel by com- 
pass in case they were caught in a snow-storm, which was 
what he dreaded the most, when Jim asked him to explain 
the compass to him, leaving Katy’s side and going over to 
where his big brother was stretched out at the other cor- 
ner of the fireplace. The girl, thus deserted, went to the 
valise in which she kept her small articles, and came back 
with a book. 


Chapter VI. 

NORSE TALES. 

“What are you reading?” asked Tug, who was the last 
boy in the world to be interested in a book, unless it was 
one about animals, but who had nothing else to do just 
then. 

“ A book of old stories.” 

“ What about ? — adventures, and things of that sort ?” 

“Partly. Some of them are fairy stories — about queer 
little people, and animals that talk, and heavenly beings that 
help lost children, and people that have hard times.” 

“Why, those are the very fellows we want to see. Let’s 
hear about ’em — mebbe we can give ’em a job.” 

“Well, if you would like it, I’ll read you this story I’ve 
just begun,” said Katy, good-naturedly. 

“ Much obliged. I think that would be tip-top.” 

So Katy read to him, as he lounged on the straw and 
gazed into the bright fire, an old myth-story of the North 
Wind. How, away in a far corner of Norway, there once 
lived a widow with one son. It was midwinter, and she 
was weak, so the lad was obliged to go to the “ safe ” (or 


48 


The Ice Queen . 


cellar dug near the house, where the food was kept) to bring 
the materials for the morning meal. The first time he went, 
and the second, and again, at the third attempt, the fierce 
North Wind blew the food out of his hands. These three 
losses vexed the lad greatly, and he resolved to go to the 
North Wind and demand the food back. After long travel- 
ling he found the home of the giant, far towards the pole, 
and made his demand. The North Wind heard him, and 
gave him a cloth which would serve all the finest dishes 
in the world whenever the boy chose to spread it and call 
for them. On his way home he stopped at a tavern for the 
night, and, spreading his cloth, had a feast. The landlady 
was astonished, as well she might be, and thinking what a 
useful thing such a tablecloth would be in a hotel, she 
stole it while the lad was asleep, and put in its place one 
that looked like it, but which had no secret power. 

The lad, not suspecting the change, went home, and 
boasted gleefully to his mother of what he had brought. 
But when he tried it, of course the false cloth could do 
nothing, and the old lady both laughed at him and scolded 
him. Vexed again, the lad hastened back, and accused the 
North Wind of fraud. So the giant gave him a ram which 
would coin golden ducats when commanded. Stopping at 
the tavern as before, the landlord exchanged this remark- 
able animal for one from his own common flock, and the 


The Ice Queen . 


49 


lad found himself fooled a second time. Going back a 
third time, he told the story to the North Wind, who gave 
the angry lad a stout stick which, when it had been told to 
“ lay on,” would never cease striking till the lad bade it to 
stop. 

At the tavern, the landlord, thinking there was some use- 
ful enchantment in the stick, tried to steal it also, but the 
boy was wide awake. He shouted, “ Lay on,” and the land- 
lord found himself being clubbed till he was nearly dead, 
and gave back all that he had taken. Then the boy went 
home, and he and his mother lived rich and happy ever 
afterwards. 

Tug’s vigorous applause aroused the attention of the 
other two, who may have been listening a little, and Aleck 
asked what the book was. 

“ Dr. Dasent’s ‘ Norse Tales,’ ” Katy replied. 

“ Who or what is ‘Norse’?” Jim inquired. 

This was a question Tug had been wanting to ask too, 
but had felt ashamed to expose his ignorance — one of the 
few things not really mean which a boy has a right to be 
ashamed of. 

“The Norse people,” Katy said, “are the people of 
Scandinavia (or the Northmen , as they were called in an- 
cient times), and these stories are those that old people have 
told their children in Norway and Sweden for — oh! for 

4 


50 The Ice Queen . 

hundreds of years. Many are about animals, and oth- 
ers — ” 

44 Give us one about an animal,” Tug interrupted. 

“Very well, here’s one that tells why the bear has so 
short a tail : 

“ One day the Bear met the Fox, who came slinking along 
with a string of fish he had stolen. 

“ 4 Whence did you get these V asked the Bear. 

44 4 Oh, my Lord Bruin, I’ve been out fishing, and caught 
them,’ said the Fox. 

“ So the Bear had a mind to learn to fish too, and bade 
the Fox tell him how he w^as to set about it. 

44 4 Oh, it’s an easy craft for you,’ said the Fox , 4 and one 
soon learned. You’ve only to go upon the ice, and cut a 
hole, and stick your tail down into it ; and so you must go 
on holding it there as long as you can. You’re not to mind 
if your tail smarts a little ; that’s when the fish bite. The 
longer you hold it, the more fish you’ll get ; and then, all at 
once, out with it, with a cross pull sideways, and with a 
strong pull too.’ 

44 Yes; the Bear did as the Fox said, and held his tail a 
long, long time down in the hole, until it was fast frozen 
in. Then he pulled it out with a cross pull, and it snapped 
short off. That’s why Bruin goes about with a stumpy tail 
to this day.” 



*\V.¥ .'v 



)•*« 

If 

t 

\ [•: 


























. 

v 

* 








- 



































































' 






















































The Ice Queen. 53 

When this short and stirring tale of a tail had been con- 
cluded, the Captain’s voice was heard. 

“Now for bed !” he ordered, winding up his watch, whose 
golden hands pointed to nine o’clock. 

Partially undressing, they tucked themselves into their 
quilts and blankets on the crackling straw, and silence fol- 
lowed. Sleep was slow to close the eyes of the younger 
ones, who were kept awake by their strange situation ; and 
Rex, lying at Katy’s feet, frequently raised his head as the 
roaring wind shrieked through the tall trees outside, or rat- 
tled a loose board in the roof with a strange noise. 

The first one to awake next morning was Aleck, who 
looked at his watch by the glimmer of the coals, and was 
surprised to find it after eight o’clock, though only a gray 
light came through the little window of the cabin. Creep- 
ing out, he raked the embers together, laid on some fresh 
wood, and hung the kettle on the spike. Then he called his 
companions, who sat up and rubbed their eyes. 

“ Katy, you lie still till the boys go off. We’ll bring you 
some water, and then you can have the house to yourself 
for a while. Get out of this, you fellows ! Jim, bring a pail 
of water for the cook. Tug, you and I will go and see how 
the boat has stood the night.” 

Two minutes later they were gone. After Jim had 
brought the fresh water (he was slow about it, because he 


54 


The Ice Queen . 


had to rechop the well-hole) the girl sprang up to make 
herself neat, and was busy at breakfast when the boys 
pounded the door like a battering-ram with the axe-handle, 
“ so as surely to be heard,” and begged to know if they 
might come in. 

“ Good - morning !” she greeted them. “ How is the 
weather ?” 

“ Weather !” exclaimed Tug, spreading his hands before 
the fire, and working his ears out from underneath a huge 
red comforter just as I have seen a turtle slowly push his 
head beyond the folded skin of his neck. “ Weather! It’s 
the roughest day I ever saw. I don’t believe old Zach 
himself could skate a rod against that wind.” 

(Zach was a six - foot - three lumberman in Monore, who 
was noted for his great strength.) 

“ Then how can we go on ?” asked Katy, dropping egg- 
shells into the coffee-pot. 

“ I’m afraid we can’t,” Aleck said, soberly ; “ at least, un- 
til this gale goes down. It is very, very cold, and I’m sure 
we are much better off here. Don’t you all think so ?” 

“ You bet !” shouted Tug. 

“You bet!” Jim echoed. 

“Then I must worry about dinner,” said Katy, with a 
pretended groan which made them all laugh. 

At breakfast came the promised chops. Then, while 


The Ice Queen . 


55 


Katy and Jim set the cabin into neat shape, the older lads 
went after more wood, and, having done this, walked out to 
the neighboring marsh and cut great armfuls of wild rice 
and rushes, with which to make their straw beds thicker 
and softer. This, and other things, took up the morning, 
and then all came in to help and hinder Katy while she 
got dinner. 

When it had been set out they found half a boiled ham, 
potatoes, some fried onions (“ arctic voyagers always need 
to eat onions to prevent scurvy, you know,” Katy explained), 
and even bread and butter; but the last item represented 
almost the end of their only loaf. 

In the afternoon the wind moderated, the clouds that had 
made it so dark in the morning cleared away, and the sun 
came out. Under the shelter of the long wharf and break- 
water they walked out on the ice to the lighthouse, where 
they had been so often in midsummer ; but now it was 
shut up, for there would be no use in burning a signal-light 
on the lake after the cold weather of the fall had put a stop 
to navigation, until spring recalled the idle vessels. 

Supper was simple, but they had lots of fun over it, and 
then all set at work to help Aleck make straps of canvas to 
put over the shoulder and across the breast when they were 
hauling on the drag-rope. This contrivance saved chafing, 
and gave a better pull. Jim had pooh-poohed the taking 


56 


The Ice Queen, 


of a sail-needle and some waxed twine along as unnecessary, 
but Aleck had persisted ; and here was its service the very 
first day. Before the trip was through with, everybody 
wanted a hundred little articles they did not possess, worse 
than they would have missed this sail-needle had it not been 
brought. 


Chapter VII. 

THE FIRST DAY ON THE LAKE. 

No howling gale disturbed their rest that night, and on 
the next morning, which was Friday, the third day out, 
breakfast had been disposed of long before the hour of ris- 
ing on the previous day. What had they for breakfast? 
Hot and tender buckwheat cakes, with syrup made from 
maple sugar melted in a tin cup. The boiled ham and 
some crackers were put w T here they could be got at easily 
for luncheon. 

The stowing of the loose goods in the boat took no 
longer than Katy required to get the mess kit packed af- 
ter breakfast. As the day was fine, and the ice, as far as 
they could see to the southward, whither their course 
lay, was smooth and free from snow, the sled was load- 
ed with cut wood and rushes, ready for making a fire, and 
Jim was appointed to drag it. 

As they were leaving the cabin, after a last look to see 
that nothing had been forgotten, Katy spoke up : 

“ Why can’t we take along some of this nice straw ? It 
doesn’t weigh anything to speak of.” 


58 


The Ice Queen . 


“ Oh, we can’t,” says Jim, crossly. “ Girls are always 
trying to do things they know nothing about.” 

“ May’s well begin to rough it now as any time; can’t 
expect a cabin and a straw mattress every night,” was Tug’s 
somewhat gruff remark as he went to the sledge. 

“But,” the girl persisted, rather piqued when she saw 
how her suggestion had been received, “ it might be very 
nice to spread it on the floor of the tent. Seems to me 
you might take it.” 

She was talking to Aleck now, who, she knew by his face, 
opposed the plan ; but he, seeing how much in earnest she 
was, went back, gathered up a big armful of the cleanest 
straw, and heaped it in the stern of the boat, while she 
brought a second bundle. 

This matter settled, Aleck and Tug put their heads 
through the new harness, and were soon rushing along at 
a stirring pace, while Katy skated behind, holding on to the 
stern of the boat to steady it ; Jim followed with his sled, 
and Bex galloped here and there as suited him. 

The ice for miles together had been swept clean by the 
wind, and was like a vast, glaring sheet of plate-glass. Most 
of it was a deep, brilliant green. Here and there would 
be stretches of milky ice, and now and then great rounded 
patches would suddenly meet them, which were black or 
deep brown, and at first frightened them by making them 


The Ice Queen . 


59 


believe a patch of open water suddenly yawned in their 
path. But, when they examined closely, they could see 
that this black ice was two or three feet thick, like all the 
rest on the open lake. 

They were never at any time more than a mile or so 
from the edge of the great marshes which bordered the low 
margin of the lake, and at noon they knew they had skated 
twelve miles, by reaching a certain island standing just in 
front of the reedy shallows. 

Thither they gladly turned for luncheon ; skates were 
unbuckled, a big fire was built, the snow was cleared away, 
and the spare canvas spread down to sit upon, while Katy 
prepared to warm up the extra supply of coffee she had 
made in the morning for this purpose. 

Not much talking had been done on the march ; breath 
was too badly needed to be wasted in that way; but now 
“tongues were loosed,” and a rattling conversation kept 
time with the crackle of the dead sticks on the fire. 

“ Captain,” said Tug, “ have you noticed how that ridge 
in the ice bends just ahead, and seems to stand across our 
course ?” 

“Yes, I have, and I fear it will be troublesome to cross. 
Jimkin, you’re nimble; climb that cottonwood, and tell us 
what you can see.” 

“ All right,” said Jim, and was quickly in the tree-top. 


6o 


The Ice Queen. 


“It looks like a rough, broken ridge, stretching clear to 
shore. I guess we’ll have to climb over it. I can’t see any 
break.” 

“ Where do you think is the easiest place ?” 

“ About straight ahead, where you see that highest point. 
Right beside it is a kind o’ low spot, I think.” 

“ Well, then,” said the Captain, “ we’ll aim for that. Hur- 
ry up your lunch, Katy, and let’s be off.” 

Half an hour later they arrived at the bad place. 

“It must be a hummock ,” said Katy, “such as I have 
read about in Dr. Kane’s book — only not so large, I sup- 
pose. He says that the ice-sheet, or floe, gets cracked and 
separated a little; then the two floes will come together 
again with such force that they lap over one another, or 
else grind together, and burst up edgewise along the seam.” 

“That’s just the way this is; but, hummock or no hum- 
mock, it must be crossed,” said Aleck. 

“Mebbe I could find a better place,” suggested Jim, “if 
I should go along a little way.” 

“ Well, try it, Youngster. And, Tug, suppose you take a 
scout in the other direction.” 

Tug went off, but soon returned, reporting a worse in- 
stead of better appearance, and Aleck, who had climbed 
over, came back to say that the ridge was about twenty-five 
yards wide. 


The Ice Queen. 


61 


“ How does it look V 9 asked Katy. 

“Why, it looks as though a lot of big cakes of ice had 
been piled up on edge, and then frozen into that rough 
shape, or lack of shape. I should say the ridge is ten feet 
high in the middle, and on the other side it is a straight 
jump down for about six feet. But it’s worse everywhere 
else. We must take our skates off the first thing.” 

This done, they stood up, ready to drag the boat as near 
to the hummock as possible. But it was hard pulling, for 
the slope was pretty steep and rough. 

“ Where’s that Jim, I wonder ?” cried Aleck. “ I’ll teach 
The Youngster not to run off the minute any work is to be 
done. Jim /” 

But no boy answered the call, nor several others. Tug 
stood up on the boat, and Katy climbed to a high point of 
ice, but neither could see anything. Then they all became 
alarmed, fearing he might have fallen into one of those 
holes that here and there are found in the thickest ice, and 
always stay open. It is an easy matter to skate into one, 
but a very hard one to get out again. It was the thought 
of this that made Katy run in the direction whither Jim 
had started, but her brother called her back. 

“Wait, Katy. We’ll put on our skates. Probably The 
Youngster’s hiding, and I’ll box his ears when I catch him. 
This is no time for fooling.” 


62 


The Ice Queen. 


With quick, nervous fingers they fastened their straps, 
and then rushed down along the foot of the hummock as 
though on a race, Tug carrying one of the drag-ropes. 
The tracks could be followed easily enough until they left 
the good ice and turned in towards the hummock, where 
they came to an end, which looked as though Jim might 
have taken off his skates. Here the boys hallooed, then 
climbed to the top of a great, upturned table of blue ice, 
and called again. But the most complete silence followed 
their words — such a silence as can never be known on land 
among the creaking trees or rustling grass; an absolute, 
painful stillness. Hot even an echo came back. 

At this they were puzzled and frightened, and Katy 
wanted to cry, but fought back her tears. They descended, 
and went slowly onward, now and then getting upon ele- 
vated points, and calling. At last they stopped, utterly at 
their wits’ end where or how to search next, and Katy’s 
tears rolled down her cheeks unchecked. 

“ Cbeer up, Sis,” said Aleck, and took her hand in his as 
they skated slowly onward ; “ cheer up ! we’ll try again on 
that big block ahead.” 

This block overlooked a broader part of the hummock, 
and wasn’t far from land. They struggled over the jagged 
border, and hoisted Katy upon it to see what she could see. 

“ Nothing,” was her report ; “ nothing but ice, and ice, 


The Ice Queen . 63 

and ice, and a gray edge of marsh. Oh, Jim ! Jim ! where 
are you ?” 

“ Here — Jieljp me out.” 

Each looked at the other in amazement, for the voice, 
though faint, seemed right beside them. 

“ Here , down between the cakes — help me out .” 

The words came distinctly, and gave them a clew. Katy 
peeped over the farther edge of the block, and there she 
saw the little fellow’s face peering up at her out of the 
greenish light of a sort of pit into which he had fallen. 
Two great cakes of ice had been thrown up side by side, 
leaving a space about two feet wide and ten feet deep be- 
tween them. The blowing snow that filled most of the 
crevices of the hummock had here formed a bridge, which 
had let Jim through when he stepped upon it, never sus- 
pecting the chasm it concealed. 

“ Hurt?” asked Tug. 

“Hot a bit, but pretty well scared. I thought yon fel- 
lows were never coming. I’ve been in here two hours.” 

“ Two hours ! Oho, that’s good ! Twenty minutes would 
about fill the bill. You ain’t tired so quick of a warm, snug 
place like that, are you ?” 

“ Just you try it, and see how you like its snugness. 
Drop me an end of that rope, will you ?” 

“Give him the rope’s end, Tug; he deserves it in an- 


6 4 


The Ice Queen . 


other way, but we haven’t time to-day. Now, then — yo- 
heave-o !” and up came the lost member, not much the 
worse for his adventure. 

Then began the difficult work of crossing the hummock. 
In front of the boat lay a steep slope of glassy ice, and 
beyond and above that a series of steps and jagged points, 
forming about such a plateau as a big heap of building- 
stone would make, only here the fragments were larger. 

All four, going to the top of the first slope, pulled the 
boat upward until the forward runners were just balanced 
on the crest. Then a hook on one of the ropes came loose ; 
four young people fell sprawling; and the boat dropped 
backward with a rush to the very bottom of the ridge, 
where it upset. 

“ Now,” said Aleck, when they had set the boat upright 
again, and found nothing broken ; “ now let us take out all 
the loose stuff, and so lighten her as much as we can.” 

This was done. 

“We three fellows,” was the Captain’s next order, “will 
drag her up again, and Katy must go behind with the boat- 
hook, and stick it into the ice behind the boat, to hold 
it, like a chock-block under a wagon wheel, whenever it 
shows any signs of slipping back. Now, everybody be 
careful.” 

The steady pulling, with Katy’s pushing and guiding, got 


The Ice Queen . 


65 


the front runners safely over the edge of the sloping side, 
and gave them a chance to rest. But when they tried to 
move it forward enough to bring the stern up, the boat 
couldn’t be budged, because the ice in front was so full of 
ruts and ridges. 

5 


Chapter VIII. 

JIM’S REBELLION. 

“ I tell you what, boys,” Tug cried, after a great ef- 
fort, “ there’s no use trying any more till we have smoothed a 
road, and I think, Captain, you’d better set all hands at that.” 

“ I’m afraid that is so. Jim, please go back and get the 
axe, the hatchet, and the shovel. Now, -while Tug and I 
dig at this road, you and Jim, Katy, can bring some of 
the freight up here, or perhaps take it clear across, and 
so save time. The small sled will help you.” 

It was tedious labor all around, and the wind began to 
blow in a way they would have thought very cold had 
they not been so warm and busy with -work. As fast as 
a rod or two of road was cleared, the four took hold and 
dragged the boat ahead. These slow advances used up 
so much time that when the plateau had been crossed, the 
sun, peering through dark clouds, was almost level with the 
horizon. It now remained to get down the sudden pitch 
and rough slope on the farther side. But this was a task 
of no small importance, and Aleck called a council on the 
subject. 


CROSSING THE HUMMOCK. 


f 










I 



The Ice Queen. 


69 


“ My lambs,” he began (the funny word took the edge 
off the unfortunate look of affairs, as it was intended to 
do) — “ my lambs, it is growing late, and it’s doubtful if we 
can get this big boat down that pair of stairs before dark. 
Don’t you think I’d better order Jim and Katy to pack up 
the small sled with tent and bedding and kitchen-stuff?” 

“ ’Twon’t hold it all !” interrupted Jim. 

“ Then, Youngster, you can come back after the bedding. 
Take the cooking things first, and you and Katy go back to 
the island where we lunched, and make a fire. Tug and 
I — eh, Tug? — will stay here and chop away till dark, and 
then we’ll go back to camp with you when you come after 
the blankets, and help you carry the tent.” 

“ Are you going to leave the boat here all night ?” asked 
Jim, in alarm. 

“ Why, of course ; what’ll harm it ? Now be off, and 
make a big fire.” 

So the younger ones departed, and by and by Jim returned 
for a second load. He found the two older boys cutting a 
sloping path through the little ice bluff on the farther side 
of the hummock, and pretty tired of it. They were not 
yet done — the shovel not being of much service in working 
the hard blue ice — but it was now getting too dark to do 
more, so they piled the snug bundles of blankets into Jim’s 
sled box, and gave him the rope, while Tug and Aleck put 


70 


The Ice Queen . 


their shoulders under opposite ends of the tent roll. Then 
together they all skated away through the thickening windy 
twilight, and over the ashy-gray plain of ice, towards where 
Katy’s fire glowed like a red spark on the distant shore. 

It was a weary but not at all disheartened party that 
lounged in the open door of the tent that night, while a big 
fire blazed in front, and supper was cooking. This was the 
first time the sail had been spread as a tent, and it answered 
the purpose nicely, giving plenty of room. The straw Katy 
had been so anxious about had to be left in the boat, so 
that they got no good of it. Jim chaffed his sister a good 
deal about this, and Tug rather encouraged him, thinking it 
was a fair chance for fun at Katy’s expense; but when he 
saw that Katy really was feeling badly, not at Jim’s teasing 
words, but for fear she had made the boys useless trouble, 
Aleck came to the rescue. Seizing The Youngster by the 
shoulder, lie spun him round like a teetotum, and was going 
to box his ears, when Katy cried out, “ Oh, don’t !” and 
saved that young gentleman’s skin for the present. 

“ Then I’ll punish you in another way. Take your knife, 
go over there to the marsh” — it was perhaps a hundred 
yards away — “ and cut as many rushes as you can carry.” 

The Youngster never moved. 

“ I don’t want the rushes,” said Katy, trying to keep the 
peace, but her brother paid no heed. 


The Ice Queen . 71 

“ Did yon hear what I said ?” he asked again of Jim. 

“Yes, I did.” 

“Well, that was a Captain’s Order, and I advise you to 
obey.” 

“ Do it yourself !” shouted the angry Jim, sitting down 
by the fire. 

Aleck looked at him an instant, saw his sulky, set lips, 
and then walked over to a willow bush near by. From the 
centre of this bush he cut a thriving switch, and carefully 
trimmed off all the twigs and crumpled leaves. It was 
as pliant and elastic as whalebone. It whistled through the 
air, when it was waved, like a wire or a thin lash. It would 
hug the skin it was laid upon, and wrap tightly around a 
boy’s legs, and sting at the tip like a hornet. It wouldn’t 
raise a welt upon the skin, as an iron rod or a rawhide might 
do, but it would hurt just as bad while it was touching you. 

Jim knew all this, and it flashed through his brain, every 
bit of it, as he saw Aleck trim the switch. 

“Better scoot, Youngster,” Tug advised, with a grin that 
was meant kindly, but made Jim madder than ever. 

“ Please get the rushes,” coaxed Katy. 

But when Aleck came back the boy still sat there, defiant 
of orders. 

“Now, James,” he said, as he stood over him, “you have 
been ordered by your Captain to go and get some rushes. 


72 


The Ice Queen. 


You refuse. You are insubordinate. I’ll give you just one 
minute to make up your mind what you will do.” 

Jim glanced up, saw the determined face and stalwart 
form of his brother; saw Tug keeping quiet and showing 
no intention of interfering; saw the awful willow. He 
rose quickly from his seat, and darted away into the scrub 
alders and willows as hard as he could run, but not tow- 
ards the rushes. 

Aleck didn’t follow him. “ Never mind,” he said. “ Go 
on with your supper, Katy. That boy gets those rushes be- 
fore he has any grub to eat or blankets to lie in, unless you 
both vote against it, and I don’t think you will, for it was a 
reasonable order.” 

“Well, Captain,” said Tug, “I think we might ease up 
on it a little. It was a little rough on The Youngster send- 
ing him alone in the dark to get the stuff. If you had sent 
me with him, I suppose he’d have gone fast enough. If 
you’ll say so now, I allow he’ll surrender and save his hide. 
For that matter, I don’t mind getting ’em alone if you’ll let 
the kid go. I was going to propose it myself just as you 
gave the order.” 

“ That’s very kind of you, Tug ; but I couldn’t allow you 
to get them alone. You may help if you want to.” 

“ May I tell him so ?” Katy asked, eagerly. 

“Yes, if you can find him.” 


The Ice Queen . 


73 


“ I’ll find him — look out for the bacon and the girl 
went off into the gloom and the bushes, calling, “Jim! 
Jim !” 

It was a good while before she came back, and the boys, 
tired of waiting, had forked out the bacon, and were eating 
their meal, which was what the poets call “ frugal,” but im- 
mensely relished all the same. 

Suddenly Katy and the culprit stalked out of the ring of 
shadows that encircled the fire, bearing huge bundles of 
yellow rushes. 

“ That ain’t fair !” cried Tug. “ You ought to have let 
me gone, Katy.” 

“ Oh, I didn’t mind, and I wanted Jim to hurry back.” 

“I didn’t want her to carry none,” said Jim, more eager 
about self-defense than grammar. “ If I give up, I want to 
give up all over, and not half-way.” 

“ Good for you, Youngster,” Aleck shouted, leaping up. 
“ Give us your hand !” 

Thus peace was restored, and the boy sat down happily 
to his well-earned supper, while the older ones spread the 
crisp reed-straw. Finding there wasn’t quite enough, they 
went off to the marshes and brought two more armfuls, 
which made a warm and springy couch for the whole party. 

These “ rushes ” were not rushes, properly speaking, but 
the wild rice which grows so abundantly on the borders of 


74 


The Ice Queen . 


the great lakes, and throughout the little ponds and shal- 
low sheets of water that are dotted so thickly over Wiscon- 
sin and southern Minnesota. It is like a small bamboo 
jungle, for the close-crowding stiff reeds often stand ten feet 
or more above the water. They bear upon the upper part 
of their stalks a few ribbon-like leaves, and each reed car- 
ries a plume which in autumn contains the seeds, or the 
“ rice.” 

The botanical name of the plant is Zizania aquatica ; 
and among it flourish not only the common white and 
yellow water-lilies, but that splendid one, the Nelumbium 
lutewn , which Western people call the lotus. 

This rice formed an important part of the food of the 
Indians who lived where it grew. In and out of the 
marshes run narrow canals, kept open by the currents, and 
through these the Indian women would paddle their canoes, 
seeking the ripe heads, which they would cut off and take 
ashore to be threshed out in the wigwam, or else they 
would shake and rub out the rice into a basket as they 
went along. At home the rice would be crushed into a 
coarse flour in their stone mortars, then made into cakes 
baked on the surface of smooth stones heated in the coals. 

The stalks, round, smooth, and straight, were of service 
to the Indians also. Out of them they made mats and 
thatching for their lodges, and they served as excellent 



\\W A 




v.v.j'i 






aft 




















The Ice Queen. 77 

arrow-shafts, a point of fire-hardened wood, of bone, or of 
flint having been fixed in the end. 

In w T arm weather these broad, submerged marshes, un- 
dulating in color-waves — green in spring, golden-yellow in 
midsummer, and warm reddish-brown in October — as the 
breeze swept across the vast extent of pliant reeds, formed 
the home of a great variety of animals, whose numbers 
were almost unlimited. There, in the darkly stained wa- 
ter, lurked hosts of small shells and insects — dragon-flies, 
beetles, and aquatic bugs and flies, whose habits were always 
a matter for curiosity. Then, where insects and mollusks 
were so numerous, of course there were plenty of fishes, great 
and small, the little ones feeding on the bugs and snails, the 
larger on them, and some giants — like the big pike — on these 
again. Nor did this end the list. After the big fish came 
the muskrat ; after the muskrat — in the old days, at least — 
sneaked the wolverine; after the wolverine crept the stealthy 
panther; and for the panther an Indian lay in wait. 

The marshes were full of birds, too, in the bird -season 
— small, piping wrens ; suspicious sparrows ; ducks and rails 
and gallinules of many kinds and many voices ; herons and 
cranes and hawks ; coming and going with the seasons, mak- 
ing the yellow reeds populous with busy lives, and vocal 
with their merriment. Now, however, all was silent. 

Our travellers would have preferred skating across the 


78 


The Ice Queen. 


marshes rather than outside upon the windy lake, but it was 
reported that warm springs came out of the ooze in many 
parts of the rice morass, keeping the ice so weak (though 
not melting it quite away) as to make skating unsafe. 
This danger was not so great, perhaps, in a winter so unu- 
sually cold as this one was proving itself to be, as it had 
been shown to be in milder seasons ; but they did not want 
to run risks. 

“ How noisy it will be all around this islet in three months 
from now !” Aleck remarked, as they were preparing for 
bed. “ Then you will hardly be able to hear yourself speak 
for the frogs.’’ 

“ Before there were any lighthouses on the lake,” said 
Tug, “ sailing was pretty much guesswork ; but my father 
told me the sailors, when they approached the shore, used 
to know where they were by listening to the bull -frogs. 
The bulls would call out the names of their ports, you know : 
San — dusk — y ! To — 1-e-e-e — do ! Mon — roe ! De—troi- 
i-i-i — it !” 


Chapter IX. 

SKATING BY COMPASS. 

The next day was Sunday. Fortunately, the sacred day 
had found them in such a position that they could spend 
it quietly. Katy persuaded Jim and the two young men 
to listen while she read them some chapters from the little 
Testament she had carefully packed among her “ necessary 
articles.” 

This, together with the work that must be done, took up 
a good part of the morning, and the afternoon was spent in 
making a trip to the boat, looking the situation over care- 
fully, and laying plans for a very early start the next day. 
Supper over, they soon crawled into bed, and woke at day 
break, ready for work, and all the better for their day of 
rest. 

After a hasty breakfast camp was broken, and work was 
resumed at the hummock. All hands labored with such a 
will that long before noon they had let the boat down to 
the smooth white plain upon the other side ; and though it 
got away from them at the last minute, and went spinning 
off on its own account, no harm was done. 


8o 


The Ice Queen . 


The onward march was then resumed, and splendid head- 
way made. At noon a short halt was called and gladly ac- 
cepted, all lounging upon the straw and boxes in the boat, 
munching crackers and cheese, and drinking Katy’s cold 
chocolate. The sun had been out all the morning, and the 
ice was not only a trifle soft, but frequently rough, which 
had made the skating and dragging a little harder work 
than before. 

No land appeared ahead, but Aleck knew the name and 
position of a lighthouse just visible upon an island at the 
mouth of a river away off at their right. He therefore 
took out of his pocket a small map of the western end of 
the lake, that he had copied from a big chart, and began to 
study it. He found that it was about fifteen miles across 
the end of the lake to a certain cape on the southern shore, 
which lay beyond the great marshy bay into which emptied 
the river just mentioned. He took the direction of this cape 
from where they were at present, by compass, and made a 
note of it in his pocket-book. It was almost exactly south- 
east. Aleck reckoned on reaching so near there by sun- 
down that the party could go ashore if very hard pushed by 
any misfortune or bad turn of the weather, though it was 
too long a march to make unless they were compelled. 

“ But supposing we find open water, and have to change 
our course?” asked Katy. 


The Ice Queen . 


81 


“ Well, we shall know, at all events, that we mustn’t go 
east of southeast, and must try to keep as close to that di- 
rection as possible. I don’t like this sunshine and westerly 
breeze. I’d much rather the weather kept real cold.” 

“ Why ?” said Jim. “ It’s much nicer when it’s warm.” 

“I’m afraid of snow and fogs, Youngster. Now let us 
be off.” 

No snow or fog came to bother them, however, and at 
sunset they were out of sight of any landmark, and travel- 
ling by the compass, like a ship at sea. 

You may ask, How could they be sure they were fol- 
lowing it truly, since they had no object, like a long bow- 
sprit, to guide the eye in ranging their course into line with 
the needle point, as the steersman on a ship does when he 
glances across his binnacle? 

This is the plan they took : The compass was a small one, 
but it was hung in a box so as always to stand level. It 
was, in fact, an old boat compass which Mr. Kincaid had 
had for many years. This was set exactly in the middle of 
the seat at the stern of the boat, where Katy still skated, 
with her hands resting upon the stern-board. Here she 
could keep her eye easily upon the face of the compass, and 
make a straight line from its pointer through the middle of 
the boat. When the compass point “southeast” and the 
stem-post of the yawl were in line, she knew they were 

6 


82 


The Ice Queen . 


going on a straight course. When these were out of line, 
she knew her team had swerved, and she called out 
“ Right !” or “ Left !” to bring them back to the true 
course, just as a quartermaster would order “Port!” and 
“Starboard!” to his helmsman. 

The sun went down slowly at their right hands as they 
rushed along, and as Jim saw his shadow stretching taller 
and taller, he found it difficult to keep pace with the older 
lads. Noting this, the Captain ordered a halt, and put Jim 
into the boat as a passenger, tying his sled behind. 

“ Don’t you want to ride also ?” asked Tug of Katy, very 
gallantly. 

Katy was tired, and one of her skate-straps^ chafed her 
instep a little, but she didn’t propose to give up. 

“ Oh, no,” she said, cheerily. “ I have so much help by 
resting on the stern of the boat that I can go a long time 
yet before I give in. Besides, who would steer?” 

So they rushed away again, the clink- clink of their 
strokes keeping perfect time on the smooth ice. All at 
once — it was about four o’clock in the afternoon now — a 
dark line appeared ahead, and in a few moments more they 
could plainly see open water across their path. 

When they became sure of this they went more slowly, 
and in about ten minutes had approached as close as they 
dared to a wide space like a river, beyond which white ice 


§3 


\ 

The Ice Queen . 

could be seen again. Here all knew they must spend the 
night, for it would be foolish to attempt to cross before 
morning. 

“Well,” remarked Tug, as they came to a halt, “accord- 
ing to orders, it’s my duty to take the axe and cut fuel ; so 
I can loaf, for there’s no wood to chop round here that I 
see and he pretended to search in every direction. 

“Loaf? Hot a bit of it,” shouted Aleck, with a grin. 
“ My order to you is, Unload that tent, and set it up on the 
ice ! Jim will help you. I’ll help Katy make a fire.” 

“I wish you would,” said the girl. “I’m ’fraid I 
shouldn’t make it go very well out here. I have never 
built a kitchen fire on ice.” 

“ This is the best way.” 

Saying this, Aleck took two of the largest pieces of wood 
from Jim’s sled, and laid them down a little way apart. 
Then he laid across them a platform of the next largest 
sticks, and on top of this arranged his kindling, ready to 
touch a match to. 

“ We won’t set the fire going till we are quite ready for 
it, and — ” 

“ But I’m cold,” Jim complained. 

“Well, Youngster, I’ve heard that the Indians never 
let their boys come near the lodge fire to get warm, but 
bid them run till they work the chill off. You’d better 


8 4 


The Ice Queen . 


move livelier if you want to get warm, for we can’t afford 
any more fire than is necessary for a short bit of cooking. 
Katy, what do you propose to have?” 

“I thought I would make tea, boil potatoes, and bake 
some johnny-cake in my skillet. May I ?” 

“ Oh, yes, but you must economize fuel.” 

With this warning, Aleck struck a match, and the little 
fire was soon blazing merrily in the “ wooden stove,” as 
Katy called it. Only one or two sticks had been burned 
clear through before the fire had done its work, and was 
put out in order to save every splinter of wood possible. 
They sat down in the shelter of the boat to eat their din- 
ner, and enjoyed it very much, in spite of the cold, their 
loneliness, and the gathering darkness. 

Meanwhile the tent had been set up. Over its icy floor 
were laid the thwarts taken out of the boat, the rudder, and 
two box covers, which nearly covered the whole space. On 
top of this was placed as much straw as could be spared, 
and upon the straw Aleck and Tug spread their blankets. 

Dinner out of the way, the after-part of the boat was 
cleared out and re-arranged, until a level space was left. 
Here, upon a heap of straw, beds for the younger ones were 
arranged. Then the spare canvas was spread across like an 
awning, and was held up on an oar laid lengthwise. This 
made a snug cabin for Katy and the wearied Jim, who 


THE LITTLE FIRE WAS SOON BLAZING MERRILY. 













The Ice Queen. 87 

were not long in creeping into it. Rex followed, and slept 
in the straw at their feet, which was good for them all. 

With the coming of darkness came also a damp sort of 
cold, that caused them to huddle close in their blankets; 
and though they presently fell asleep, it was with a shiver 
ing sense of discomfort that spoiled the refreshment. 

Midnight passed, and Aleck, only half awake, was trying 
to tuck his blankets closer about him without disturbing 
his bedfellow, when the tent was suddenly struck by some 
large object, and considerably shaken. Alarmed and puz- 
zled at the same time, Aleck paused to listen an instant be- 
fore rising, when the shrieks and barking of the sleepers in 
the boat came to his ears. lie sprang out of his blankets 
only in time to see two shadowy objects rise from the camp, 
and drift away across the face of the moon, which was just 
rising. 

“ Wh-what w-was that ?” came from two scared figures 
sitting bolt -upright in the yawl, their tongues stuttering 
with terror and cold combined. 

“ I don’t know.” Aleck was as bewildered, if not quite 
as much frightened, as they. 

“ Humph!” cried Tug’s voice, behind; “you’re a pretty 
6et to be scared out of your wits and wake everybody up 
on account of two birds. They’re nothing but snow-owls. 
Go to bed, or we’ll all freeze.” 


88 


The Ice Queen . 


“Wh-wh-what are they?” asked Jim, his teeth playing 
castanets in spite of all his efforts to control them. 

“ Tell you in the morning,” was the reply. “ Go to bed. 
Come in, Cap’n. Owls are nothing. Come to bed.” 

This seemed good advice, however gruffly given ; but 
you can hardly expect a person to mince his phrases at two 
o’clock of a winter’s morning, on an ice-floe. Aleck was 
ready to comply, but he was too cold. 

“I must get warm first, and so must you, Jim.” Katy 
had wisely disappeared some time before, and said she was 
pretty comfortable. “Come and run with me till we get 
our blood stirring.” 

Neither of the boys had dared undress at all, so it only 
remained for Jim to creep out from under the canvas, and 
limp stiffly to his brother’s side. Then hand in hand they 
raced up and down the ice half a dozen times in the pale 
greenish moonlight. Once or twice they disturbed an owl 
perched on the ice, or heard wild hooting — a sound so hol- 
low and unearthly that they could not tell whether it came 
from near by or far off. 

This strange voice and the gray, silent half-light on the 
wide waste gave them a very lonely and dismal feeling, 
and when they had put themselves into a glow by exercise, 
they were very glad to creep back into their beds. 


Chapter X. 

AN UGLY FERRIAGE. 

The sun had been up an hour when Aleck woke again, 
and pulled Tug’s ear, at which that young gentleman sat up 
and was going to fight somebody right away. But Aleck 
pounced on him, and pinned him down before he could stir 
or strike. 

“No time for fooling,” he laughed in his chum’s face; 
“ but if there were I’d like to take you out to the creek here 
and duck you for your disrespect to your superior officer. 
Will you touch your cap if I let you up 1” 

“ Ye-e-s,” Tug replied, as he felt the strength of the Cap- 
tain’s grip ; “ but I’m not sure about your duckin’ me !” 

“ Nor I,” laughed Aleck, and he leaped away, to go and 
wake up the others by kicking on the side of the boat. 

The morning was beautiful, and by the time breakfast was 
ready the tent had been struck, and the big boys had come 
back from an exploration to say that they could go almost 
to the brink of the open water. 

“ It must be a ‘ lead,’ ” exclaimed Katy. “ That’s the name 
arctic travellers give to a wide crack in the ice, by taking 


90 


The Ice Queen . 


advantage of which, whenever it leads in the right direction, 
vessels are able to make their way through the 6 packs ’ and 
‘ fields.’ ” 

“ Probably their leading vessels through is where they 
get the name,” Aleck remarked. 

“Shouldn’t wonder,” said Tug; “but however well that 
plan may work in the arctic regions, we must cross this one.” 

Getting everything ready at the brink of the canal oc- 
cupied fifteen minutes. Then, all the cargo easy to be moved 
having been taken out, the boat (sledge and all, as an experi- 
ment for this short trip) was launched without mishap. The 
sledge bobs hanging on her bottom weighted her down, and 
canted her so much, though the water was perfectly smooth, 
that it was necessary to make the trip very carefully. The 
young voyagers were thus taught that for any real naviga- 
tion the boat must always be removed from the sledge. By 
noon, however, the last ferriage was successfully made, and 
they had repacked and were ready to go on again as soon as 
they had eaten a “ bite.” While despatching this, Katy sud- 
denly exclaimed : 

“ Oh, I have never once thought about our visitors last 
night. I’ll confess I was dreadfully frightened. How did 
you know they were owls?” 

“ Saw ’em,” Tug replied, shortly, with his mouth full of 
dried beef. “ Couldn’t be anything else this time o’ year.” 


The Ice Queen . 


9i 


“ Where do they come from ?” 

“ From ’way up north. Don’t your arctic book say any- 
thing about ’em ? Maybe it calls ’em the 6 great white ’ or 
1 snowy ’ or ‘ Eskimo ’ owls.” 

“I think I remember something about them. The Es- 
kimos have a superstitious fear of them, haven’t they ?” 

“ Yes, and lots of other people, for that matter. Why, 
only last winter one of ’em lit on the roof of a house out 
in the country where I was staying, and the old woman 
there began to rock back and forth, and whine out that 
some dreadful bad luck was coming. But that’s all non- 
sense.” 

“ I guess its cry has given it a witch-like reputation,” 
said Aleck. “It sounded uncanny enough last night; didn’t 
it, Jim ? But what were they doing away out here ?” 

“ Oh, I s’pose they were flying ’cross the lake, and had 
stopped to rest on our tent-ridge, till we startled them. I 
bet they were worse scared than you were. You see, their 
proper home is in the arctic regions. That’s where they 
build their nests, putting them in trees and in holes in 
rocks. But when winter comes up there, and the snow gets 
so deep and the cold so severe that all the small animals he 
feeds on have retired to their holes or else left the country, 
Mr. Owl has to get up and flit too, or he will starve to death. 
So he works his w r ay down here. They say these great 


92 


The Ice Queen . 


white owls — why, they’re bigger than the biggest cat-owl 
you ever saw — never go far south of this, and I know that 
we don’t see many of ’em except when we have a very se- 
vere winter. But I’ve talked enough. Let’s get out of this.” 

The sunshine by this time was interrupted by dark clouds 
that rose in the west, and puffs of damp, chilly air began to 
be felt by the skaters, who wrapped themselves a little closer 
in their overcoats as they measured their steady strokes. 
Still no land came in sight, but they thought this must be 
owing mainly to the thick air to the southward. Once they 
thought they saw it, but the dark line on the horizon proved 
to be a hummock, not so bad as the one lately passed, but 
still troublesome, and closely followed by a second. The 
lifting and tugging tired them all greatly, and after the sec- 
ond barrier had been climbed they found themselves on ice 
which was incrusted with frozen snow, and exceedingly un- 
pleasant to skate upon. But a few rods farther on there 
appeared a narrow stream of open water, beyond which the 
ice looked hard and green. 

“ Let us cross, and camp on the other side,” said Tug. 

u Yes,” Aleck answered, in a troubled voice. “ Do you see 
that snow storm coming, over there? It’ll be down upon us 
in a jiffy, and there’s no telling what next. Yes, let’s cross 
before it gets dark, if we can. There’s a hummock over 
there that will shelter us a bit from the wind, I think.” 


The Ice Queen . 


93 


The anxious tone of his voice alarmed his companions, 
and all set at work with a will. Yet the snow-flakes had 
come, and were thick about them, before the second fer- 
riage had been made, and the wet and ice-clogged boat was 
lifted out of the water. 

Nobody said as much, but it is safe to believe that each 
of our four friends thought , to himself, that if every day’s 
work in advance was to be like this one, they had Under- 
taken a prodigiously difficult and dangerous experiment in 
this skating expedition ; and perhaps each one wondered 
whether the winter would be long enough to carry them to 
their destination at this rate of progress, even should they 
be able to surmount the fast-recurring obstacles in safety. 


Chapter XI. 

CAMPING AGAINST AN ICE WALL. 

“ Now what ?” asked Tug, holding his head very high to 
prevent the snow going down the back of his neck. “Now 
what ?” 

“Now,” Aleck answered, in a tone of command, “get the 
boat up there under the lee of that hummock. Everybody 
take hold.’’ 

The ropes were seized with a will, but the heavy boat 
could not be dragged in the snow until it had been light- 
ened; then by great exertion it was taken over the fifty 
yards that lay between the water and the hummock. At 
that spot the ice had been thrust up like a smooth wall about 
fifteen feet high, which overhung slightly, so as to form a 
cosey shelter from the storm. The bow of the boat was 
swung close against its foot, while the stern was slanted away 
until there remained a space of about eight feet between it 
and the smooth face of the hummock at that end. Tug 
and Jim went back after the sled and what baggage had 
been left behind at the “ lead,” while Aleck and Katy began 
to contrive a shelter. 


The Ice Queen . 


95 


To manage this they cleared out the movable things in 
the boat, arranging all the cargo (except the mess chest), as 
fast as it was removed, in the shape of a wall extending across 
from the stern of the boat to the hummock. In this way, 
with the help of thwarts, two oars, and some blocks of ice, a 
rough wall was raised, about four feet high, enclosing a three- 
cornered space eight feet in width, having the hummock 
and starboard side of the boat for its sides, and the cargo 
wall (through which a hole had been left as a doorway) for 
its end or “ base.” 

Next, a roof must be contrived. The mast and two oars 
were set in a leaning position from the outer gunwale of 
the boat, where they rested firmly upon the thwart-cleats, up 
against the hummock, to which they were securely wedged. 

It had now become dark, and Katy lighted the lantern. 
Tug and Jim, covered with snow, brought their last sled- 
load and added it to the wall, throwing all their little stock 
of firewood, which amounted to about three bushels, into 
the lmt. Then all hands set to work in the wind, which blew 
in sharp gusts now and then over the crest of the hummock, 
to stretch the sails upon the rafters formed by the mast 
and oars and thus form an awning-roof. 

The handling of the heavy mainsail proved an extremely 
difficult matter. Once it blew quite away from their grasp, 
and went off in the darkness, but Jim and the dog gave 


96 


The Ice Queen . 


chase, and soon caught it, Rex grabbing it with his teeth, 
and so holding on to it till the others came to the rescue. 
At the next attempt they succeeded in fastening one end, 
after which the task grew easier. 

The mainsail fairly in place, the jib was next hoisted 
across the end, and here its leg-of-mutton shape was a great 
advantage, for when the broad lower part was hung against 
the hummock wall the narrowing peak just fitted between 
the sloping roof and the top of the wall. 

When the two sails had been fastened, the party found 
themselves covered rudely but pretty tightly, and the spare 
canvas remained to serve as a carpet, which was greatly 
needed. Plenty of snow and cold were “lying round loose” 
yet, but to be inside was far better than to be out of doors. 
That this safety and warmth were possible to their frail 
structure was owing, of course, to the fact that it stood 
under the lee of the tall ice wall, which acted as a shield 
against the force of the gale. 

“ Really, the wind does us more good than harm now,” 
Aleck remarked, “for it drifts the snow under the boat- 
sledge and against the wall, and, if it keeps on, will soon 
stop up all the holes, and leave us boxed into a tighter house 
than our old snow-chinked cabin back at the river.” 

“ Mebbe it’ll bury us,” said Jim, in an awful whisper. 

“ Guess not. Anyhow, we can have a fire first — there are 







i 

- 4X4 




t \ _ ' 







The Ice Queen . 


99 


holes enough left yet to let the smoke out. Tug, just shovel 
the drifted snow out of the house, or pack it between the 
bobs under the boat, while I whittle some kindling. There 
won’t any more blow in — the drift’s too high now.” 

“ Shall I boil tea or coffee?” asked Katy. 

“Coffee, I guess; and give us some fried bacon and 
crackers — but lots of coffee.” 

“ Why couldn’t we use our oil stove now ?” 

“We don’t really need to. We have some wood, and can 
build a fire well enough inside here, and the oil is easier 
carried than the wood for a greater need. Ready, Tug ?” 

“ Ay, a y> sir.” 

“All right. Here are our kindlings. Katy, open your 
lantern, and let me set these shavings afire. Matches are 
too precious to be wasted or even risked.” 

A minute later a brisk little fire was burning, snow was 
turning to water, and cold water to hot, while coffee was 
thinking that presently it would be in the pot, and slices of 
bacon were saying good-bye to their fellows, as one by one 
they dropped into the frying-pan. 

It was a strange scene, but the actors in it were too tired 
and hungry to notice how they looked, as they watched 
with eager interest the progress of supper-getting. They 
were not cold, and wraps were all thrown aside, for the wind 
was cut off, and the fire, small as it was, made a great deal 


IOO 


The Ice Queen. 


of heat in the confined space. The atmosphere of an Es- 
kimo house of ice, though there may be no better fire than 
a little pool of train-oil in a soapstone saucer, where a wick 
of moss is smoking and flaring, will become so warm that 
the people remove not only their furs, but a large part of 
their under-clothing, and this when the temperature outside 
is fifty degrees or so below freezing-point. 

“ It is just about big enough for a play-house,” Katy re- 
marked, as she jostled one and another in moving about. 

“I’m glad the snow blows over, and doesn’t settle on the 
roof. If it did, I’m afraid the canvas would sag down aw- 
fully, or the oars break.” 

“How will we sleep to-night?” asked Jim. 

“Well,” said Aleck, “I think we must all sleep in the 
boat somehow. Katy and you can lie on the straw in the 
stern-sheets, as usual, and Tug and I will bunk in somewhere 
for’ard. If we had plenty of wood to keep the fire going, 
it would be comfortable out here, but we must economize. 
If this snow keeps on, I don’t know when — ” 

“ Supper !” called Katy, and Aleck didn’t finish what he 
was saying ; but they all felt a little more serious about their 
situation. Though Jim objected, Aleck ordered him to put 
out every bit of the fire, and perched up in the boat they 
ate their supper by the light of the lantern. 

“ It’s precious lucky we found this straw in the cabin,” 


The Ice Queen . 


IOI 


said Tug, as he sat upon it, with a tin cup of coffee in one 
hand, and in the other a sandwich made of two pieces of 
cold johnny-cake and a slice of bacon. 

“ That’s cool ! The luck is that Kate had the good sense 
to make us bring it. I know two young fellows who ob- 
jected.” 

“I know three” Katy spoke up. “Fair play. You 
sneered at me at first, Mr. Captain, as much as anybody. 
You needn’t play goody-goody over the rest of them.” 

“ Go in, Katy !” they both cried. “ Give it to him ! He 
was going to leave every bit behind — and the rushes too.” 

“ Well, well,” pleaded Aleck, “ I know now it was a good 
idea, and I’m not always so — ” 

“ — big a fool as you look, eh?” exclaimed Tug, giving 
them all a laugh at the face made by the tall fellow, who was 
thus cheated out of his smooth apology. 

“ Never you mind ; I’ll get even with you before long.” 

Then the Captain took out his watch and wound it. 
Holding it in his hand he said: “Now it’s my turn. I’ll 
give you merry jesters just four minutes to finish your sup- 
per and make your beds. Then I blow out the lantern. 
Oil is precious.” 


Chapter XII. 

SNOWED UNDER. 

There was a roguish twinkle in the Captain’s eye, as 
though oil was not so precious but that they might have 
burned a few more drops of it ; but an order was an order, 
and everybody was quite ready for darkness when it came, 
except Tug. 

Then, how pitchy it was, and how the wind sung and 
whizzed over their rough-edged shield of ice, now and then 
catching the border of the ill-stayed tent and giving it a 
furious flap, as though about to throw it over! But weari- 
ness and warmth — for often snowy nights are not so cold as 
clear ones — closed ears as well as eyes, and when they 
awoke it was gray light in the tent, and half-past seven 
o’clock in the morning. 

Katy was the first one to peep over the gunwale of the 
boat, though Aleck was already awake. 

“ Is the place full of snow ?” he asked. 

“ No, but the canvas sags a good deal.” 

“ Well, you keep under your blankets till Tug and I — get 


The Ice Queen. 


103 


out of this, mate ! — have cleared up the floor a little, and 
built a fire. I’m afraid we won’t get away from here to- 
day.” 

After breakfast the two larger lads crawled over the wall, 
sinking up to their waists in the snow as they stepped off. 
Struggling out, they climbed up a little way upon the crest 
of the hummock, where it had been swept clear of snow by 
the wind, which had now subsided ; but nothing could be 
seen through the veil of thick-flying flakes except the dirty 
gray of their canvas roof and the thin wisps of smoke that 
curled upward from beneath it. All else was pure white, 
sinking on every side into a circle of foggy storm. Around 
the outer side of the boat and the end of the house drifts 
had been heaped up even on to the edge of the canvas, 
so that their house had become a cave between the ice and 
the snow-bank. 

“ It’s snug enough,” said Tug. 

“ Yes, but I should hate to starve to death or freeze 
there, all the same,” Aleck replied. 

“ But it ain’t very cold — and — and — say ! we’ve lots of 
food, haven’t we ?” 

“Enough for about ten days, if we put ourselves on 
precious short rations ; but most of it — the flour and bacon 
and so on — must be cooked, and this takes fire, and fire 
needs fuel, which is just what we haven’t got. If we should 


104 


The Ice Queen . 


use every bit of wood there is except the boat and sledge, 
there wouldn’t be enough to cook our food for ten days. 
Besides, though it isn’t cold now, it’s likely to turn mighty 
cold after this snow-storm, and then we must have a fire, 
or freeze.” 

“But we could get ashore back at the Point in a 
day’s travel. Or, for that matter, the south shore can’t 
be far off, though we can’t see it through this fearful 
storm.” 

“ If we had clear ice it would be all right, but how can 
we travel in this snow ? It can’t be less than two feet 
deep everywhere for miles and miles. You and I might 
go a little way, but Katy and The Youngster couldn’t 
budge twenty steps. It’s really a serious scrape we have 
brought ourselves into ; and we ought to have thought 
about this before we started. Talk about Dr. Kane ! He 
never was worse off in the arctic regions than we’re 
likely to be right here in a day or two, unless something 
happens.” 

Aleck certainly was very down-hearted, and his com- 
panion did not seem much disposed to “ brace him up,” as 
he would have expressed it. He could only reply, in an 
equally discouraged voice, 

“ I don’t see what can happen out here — for good.” 

“Nor I. Let’s go in; it’s no use standing here in the 


The Ice Queen . 105 

storm. But, mind you, no word of all this to the others 
yet.” 

All day long the snow sifted down in fine, dense flakes 
that piled up higher and higher around their house, though 
there was enough wind to keep it from collecting on the 
roof, which was very fortunate. They sat in the boat, half 
nestling in the straw ; told stories ; made Tug tell them 
everything he could think of about animals and shooting; 
invented puzzles, Aleck setting some hard sums ; mended 
clothes — this, of course, was Katy’s amusement; and guessed 
at conundrums. Here Jim outshone all the rest. He was 
sharper with his answers than any of them, and finally pro- 
posed the following : 

“ Ebenezer Mary Jane, spell it with two letters ?” 

They knit their brows over it, pronounced it impossible 
to solve, and gave it up. 

“ I-t, it” says Jim, and carried off the honors. 

Tired of this, they listened while Katy read from the 
precious book of Norwegian stories, and then chapter after 
chapter out of the little red Testament. 

“’Twouldn’t be a bad scheme for some raven to bring 
us food,” said Tug, thoughtfully. “ I reckon Elisha’s wil- 
derness wasn’t a worse one than this ice-plain.” 

“ The Eskimos, Dr. Kane writes, eat the raven himself 
sometimes, in their snow - deserts, which Elisha wouldn’t 
have done on any account, I suppose.” 


io6 


The Ice Queen. 


“No. That would have been like ^Esop’s fable of kill- 
ing the goose that laid the golden eggs.” 

“ Yes, so it would,” Katy responded ; “ but the Eskimos 
have lots of other birds to eat — auks and guillemots, and 
eider-ducks, and mollemokes.” 

“ But they’re on the sea, where those birds live in enor- 
mous flocks, like our wild pigeons up in the pine woods — 
millions of ’em !” Tug exclaimed, with outstretched arms. 
“No such a thing on our lake after the blackbirds leave 
the marshes.” 

“ Except owls,” interposed Jim ; “ and we can’t eat them.” 

“ I feel as though even an owl-stew wouldn’t be bad about 
now,” Aleck replied. 

Nevertheless, when lunch-time came, both the big boys 
vowed they were not a bit hungry, and refused to eat. 
Katy took only a cracker, but Jim ate three crackers and 
the last bit of the cold ham, picking the bone so clean that, 
big as it was, Bex, who was frightfully hungry, could get 
little comfort out of it, though he gnawed at it nearly all 
the afternoon. Then Tug smashed it for him, and gave 
him another try, which he appreciated highly. 

“ Poor Bex !” said Katy, with a sigh. “ Travellers get 
so badly ofl they have to kill and eat their dogs sometimes” 
— Bex stopped crunching, and looked up with a glance of 
alarm at this — “ and if we should — ” 




The Ice Queen. 


107 


“ What a grand time Rex would have at his own bones !” 
interrupted Tug — a joke the utter absurdity of which 
wrinkled the faces that had become straight into hearty 
laughter. Towards evening a fire was built, which used 
the last of the sticks and one of the box-covers before the 
biscuits could be baked in the skillet, the ham fried, and tea 
made. 

“I’m ’fraid it won’t be long before I shall have to try 
the little stove,” said Katy. 

“I had no idea we were so near the end,” Aleck mut- 
tered, under his breath. 

The meal that evening was a very dull one, and if they 
did not go to sleep at once after they had gone to bed, cer- 
tainly there was little fun-making among the weather-bound 
prisoners. Aleck said afterwards he thought he slept about 
an hour that night, and Katy was sure she didn’t really get 
soundly asleep at all ; but it is difficult to lie awake all 
night, though your rest may be so broken that you think 
in the morning you have never once lost your knowledge 
of what was going on. 


Chapter XIII. 

SAVED FROM STARVATION. 

When they arose next morning the air was much lighter, 
for it was no longer snowing. Breaking their way out after 
breakfast, Aleck and Tug climbed to the crest of the hum- 
mock above the house, where pretty soon they were joined 
by Katy and Jim, anxious to get a look abroad. There was 
not much satisfaction in this, though. On all sides stretched 
an unbroken area of white — a spotless expanse of new snow 
such as you never can see on land, for there was nothing to 
break the colorless monotony, except where the hummock 
stretched away right and left, half buried, and as white as 
the rest, save at a few points where crests of upturned 
ice-blocks stood above the drifts. 

“ There is a higher point a little way over there,” said 
Aleck to Tug ; “ let’s go across, and see if it will show us 
anything new.” 

“Mayn’t we come ?” asked Jim. 

“Xo, Youngster, stay with Katy. It would be a useless 
journey for you, and we’ll soon be back.” 


The Ice Queen . 


109 

And off they went, floundering up to their waists much 
of the time. 

“ Jim,” says Katy, “I see, just beyond the hut” — pointing 
in the direction opposite to that in which the lads had 
gone — “ a space under the edge of the hummock where the 
ice seems pretty clear. Understand ? And look ! don’t you 
see that long, dark line there? I wonder what it can be? 
Let us go and find out. We can get along easily enough 
after a few steps.” 

Jim strode ahead, and stamped down a path for Katy 
through the snow that lay between their house and the clear 
space of ice that had been swept by the eddy under the 
hummock, until, a moment later, they were both running 
along upon a clean floor towards the object they had seen. 
Now they could make it out clearly ; and at the first dis- 
covery Jim tossed his cap high in the air and gave a hurrah, 
in which the girl joined, wishing she too had a cap to throw 
up. What do you suppose it was that had so excited and 
gladdened them ? Can’t you guess ? 

A log of wood frozen into the ice ! 

“ Now we can have all the fire we want.” 

“ And I can keep the coffee hot for the second cup.” 

Then they looked at one another, and laughed and clapped 
their hands again. Were two children ever before made so 
happy by the simple finding of a log ? 


I IO 


The Ice Queen . 


Just then they heard Aleck’s voice: 

“ Hallo-o-o ! Where are you ?” 

Jim jumped up, and was about to shout back, but his 
sister threw her hand over his mouth. 

“ Stop, Jimkin ! Let them look for us, and have the fun 
of being surprised by our great discovery.” 

So both kept quiet, and let the boys shout. By and by 
they saw their heads bobbing over the drift, and presently 
Tug came running towards them, with Aleck close behind. 

“ Why didn’t you answer ? Didn’t you hear us ? Hello ! 
Whoop — la! Wood, or I’m a Dutchman!” and all echoed 
his wild shout, and tried to imitate his dance, until the joy 
was bumped out of them by sudden falls on the slippery ice. 

It was a tree trunk of oak, that had been floating about, 
frozen into the ice, above the surface of which fully half of 
it was to be seen. The stubs of the roots were towards them, 
while the upper end of the tree, which had been a large one, 
was lost in a drift more than forty feet distant. 

“ There is enough good wood here,” said Aleck, “ to keep 
us warm for two months, if we don’t waste it; and we 
ought to be very thankful.” 

“ Then let’s have a fire right away !” Jim exclaimed. 

“All right, Youngster,” was the Captain’s response. 
“ Fetch the axe, and we’ll soon light up.” 

When Jim had disappeared, Katy asked her brother what 
he had seen. 


The Ice Queen . 


1 1 1 


“ Nothing, 1 ” was the reply. “And it would just be im- 
possible to move half a mile a day in this snow. It’s one 
of the deepest falls I ever saw. We’ve got to stay here, 
for all I see, till it melts, or crusts over, or blows away, or 
something else happens.” 

“Well, we have plenty of fuel now.” 

“Yes, but we can’t live on oak — though we might on 
acorns. But here comes Jirnkin. ' Let’s say no more about 
it now, Katy.” 

As the chips flew under Tug’s blows, Katy gathered an 
armful, and hastened back to kindle a fire, while Jim and 
Aleck busied themselves in clearing a good path, and in 
hauling the hand-sled from under the boat, where it had 
been jammed into the drift out of the way. By the time 
it was ready Tug had chopped a sled-load of wood, and 
they hauled it to the house. It had been very awkward 
climbing over their wall of boxes, but they had been afraid 
to move any part of it, for fear of throwing down the snow 
which had banked it up and made the place so tight and 
warm. However, there was one box which must shortly be 
opened in order to get at more provisions ; so it was care- 
fully moved, and the wood piled in its place, leaving a low 
archway underneath, through which they could crawl on 
their hands and knees. 

“ That’s just like an igloo” said Katy. 


I I 2 


The Ice Queen. 


“ What’s an 6 igloo’ ?” 

“An Eskimo house made of frozen snow, in the shape 
of a dome, and entered by a low door, just like this one. 
By the way, are you getting hungry ?” 

“ Yes ; bring us something to eat.” 

They went back to their chopping. Pretty soon Katy 
came running out, bringing some crackers, a little hard 
cheese, and the last small jar of jelly — “ just for a taste,” 
she explained. Then she broke out with her story : 

“ Oh, boys, there’s a whole lot of little birds — white and 
brown — around the house. They seem to like to get near 
the smoke. I’m going to throw out some crumbs.” 

“ Yes, do,” said Tug, eagerly, “ and I’ll get my gun.” 

“ What ? to shoot them ! Oh, no.” 

“ But they will make good eating.” 

“ Ye-e-s, I suppose so,” agreed the kind-hearted girl ; 
“ but I hate to have them shot.” 

“ It’s hard, I know,” Aleck said, sympathizing more with 
his sister than with the birds, I fear ; “ but we need every- 
thing we can get. It may be a great piece of good-fortune 
that they have come, and — Hold up, Tug; aren’t you 
afraid if you shoot at them they will be scared away for 
good ?” 

“No fear of that,” was the answer; “and we have no 
other way. Come along, Katy, and keep Kex quiet.” 


The Ice Queen. 1 1 3 

Luncheon was stuffed in their pockets, and all hastened 
towards the house. 

There they still were — several flocks of birds resembling 
sparrows, but larger than any common sparrow, and white ; 
so white, in fact, that they could only be seen at all against 
the snow by glimpses of a few brown and black feathers 
on their backs. In each flock, however, there were one or 
two of a different sort, easily distinguishable by their darker 
plumage and rusty brown heads. Tug said they were Lap- 
land longspurs, and had pretty much the same habits as their 
numerous associates. The whole flock of birds was very 
restless, constantly rising and settling, but showed no dis- 
position to go away, and took little alarm at the four figures 
that stealthily approached. 

“ What are they ?” whispered Aleck to Tug. 

“White snow-flakes, or snow-buntings,” he whispered 
back. “ Mighty good eating.” 

Creeping quietly into the house, Tug took his shot-gun 
out of the boat and hastily loaded it, but with great care 
to see that the priming was well up in the nipple and a 
good cap on. Then he slung over his shoulders his shot- 
pouch and powder-horn — a short, black, well-polished horn 
of buffalo, of which he was very proud, for it had been a 
curiosity in Monore — and begged them all to stay in the 
house and let him alone, unless he called to them, and, above 
all, to keep the dog inside. 


8 


The Ice Queen . 


114 

This said, he crawled forward out of the low doorway, 
holding his gun well in front of him, and the other three 
sat down to wait for the result. 

Scarcely a minute had passed before a sharp report was 
heard, and a little thud upon the canvas roof. At this 
sound Rex leaped up, and was greatly excited. His ears 
were raised, his eyes flashed, and he gave several short, quick 
barks. But Aleck had twisted his fingers in the dog’s mane, 
and forced him to drop down and keep quiet. 

Yery soon afterwards there rang out a second report, and 
again, after time enough to reload, a third. Then the sports- 
man’s voice was heard calling, and all ran out to see how 
many he had bagged. 


“A SHARP REPORT WAS HEARD.” 



Chapter XIY. 

THE ARCTIC VISITORS. 

“ Help me catch these wounded ones !” cried Tug, dan- 
cing round in chase of several wing-tipped and lame birds 
that were floundering in the snow. 

The others rushed after them too, and it was exciting 
sport, for the chase often led them into deep drifts and 
down the scraggy sides of the hummock ; it thus became 
the scene of many comical tumbles and failures, for several 
of the birds, having been shot as they crowded together in 
a bunch, were only slightly wounded, and able to make a 
vigorous attempt to escape. Rex took part also, but his 
work consisted chiefly in barking himself hoarse, for all he 
accomplished was the finding of one dead bird ; and this, 
as he was not a retriever, he devoured on the spot. 

When, panting, red - faced, and tired out, they gathered 
again at the door, they counted up seventeen fat buntings 
and one long-spur as the result of the three shots. Three 
of these were badly mangled, and were given to Rex ; the 
others they began at once to make into a stew for supper, 
which they always ate about sundown. This meal also 


1 1 8 The Ice Queen. 

took the place of a dinner, as they ate only “a bite” at 
noon. 

While they were plucking the birds — and their bodies 
seemed wofully small when the thick coat of feathers had 
been removed — they asked Tug many questions about the 
buntings. He could not answer all of them, but the sub- 
stance of what he told them was this : 

The snow-buntings — white snow-birds, or snow-flakes — 
belong to the far northern regions, where they go in sum- 
mer to make their nests, often within the arctic circle. As 
soon as their young are able to fly they must begin their 
southward migration, for the excessive cold and the deep 
snow cut off all the grass-seeds, mosses, and insects upon 
which they feed in summer. So they begin to spread south- 
ward, not into British America alone, but also into Lapland 
and Russia, and the lower parts of Siberia. The bird seems 
to be a lover of cold, and used to scant fare and the rough- 
est climate. It is not always, therefore, that they are to be 
seen in the United States south of the Great Lakes. 

Around these lakes, however, they are likely to come in 
large flocks after a cold snap or a deep fall of snow. The 
wild rice tracts and frozen marshes afford them an abun- 
dance of seeds and dried berries, upon which they grow fat. 
Though seeming less in danger than most other birds, since 
our hawks are gone southward, these buntings are exceeding- 
ly restless and timid, which makes them scurry away at the 


The Ice Queen . 


119 

least alarm. Yet their timidity is not enough to insure 
their safety, for though they are constantly rising up and 
settling again, their flights are so short and uncertain that, 
as we have seen, a good marksman has no difficulty in shoot- 
ing them. They are so small, however, that in this country 
of large game-birds they are never shot for food unless a 
necessity like the present one compels it. With the first 
bit of warm weather the snow-buntings and their compan- 
ions, the long-spurs, whirl away to the bleak northward, 
crowding close upon the heels of Winter as he retreats to 
his polar stronghold. 

In the cool mountainous parts of the Far West there are 
several species of birds closely akin to the snow-flake, whose 
summer homes are among the peaks. They belong to the 
same genus ( Plectrojphanes ), but none of them are so white 
as the Eastern bunting ; in fact, like the ptarmigan, he is 
pure white only in midwinter, changing in summer to a 
dress much mottled with warm brown and black, traces of 
which remain in his winter hood and collar. 

“ What do you suppose brought the snow-flakes away out 
hither on the ice?” Tug was asked. 

“ Oh, we’re not so far from land — though we might as 
well be a hundred miles away for all the good it will do us ! 
— and I suppose they were flying across to the marshes and 
islands on the north shore. Probably our smoke attracted 
them.” 


120 


The Ice Queen . 


Having got done with their birds, the boys returned to 
their chopping. Two or three large pieces were hacked 
out as back-logs to build their fire upon, instead of making 
it right on the ice ; and since this last load was not needed 
in the wall, which had been banked up anew, it was spread 
around on the floor of the house to lift their canvas carpet 
above the chilly and often wet floor, for the weather was 
not cold enough now to keep it frozen always hard and dry 
under the tent. 

Evening came, and with it a feeling of homelike comfort 
queer to think about, yet not quite impossible under the 
circumstances, forlorn and dangerous as they were. The 
boys perched themselves on the gunwale of the boat, and 
watched Katy making snow-bird stew and steeping the 
fragrant tea. 

Then, how good it tasted ! What a royal change from 
steady bacon and crackers, or tough dried beef, and water ! 

“ I wonder if they’ll come again ?” said Aleck, examin- 
ing his friend’s gun. “ Costs a heap o’ powder, though, 
and the noise scares them. Say, Tug, don’t you know how 
to build traps ?” 

“I could make a figure four,” piped Jim, “if I had the 
box.” 

“ Guess we could manage that. Ugh ! what a frightful 
smoke !” 


The Ice Queen . 


I 2 I 


“I should say so,” added Katy, rubbing her smarting 
eyes. “ I think, if you would punch a hole under the wall, 
there would be a better draught. That hole in the corner 
of the roof don’t make a very fine chimney.” 

Tug took his ramrod and worked the snow away from 
a crevice at the foot of the wall, near the floor. The cooler 
air outside, sucked in to take the place of the heated air 
within, which ascended to the hole at the edge of the roof, 
and a draught was set in motion, taking enough of the smoke 
out to make the place endurable while they ate their supper. 

How good that bird soup was ! And what fun they had, 
eating it out of their tin cups with wooden spoons ! There 
was only one bowl for the tea, which had to be passed 
around for each to drink from in turn. They forgot their 
difficulties for a little while, and were as merry as anybody 
could be. All at once Katy stopped short in a laugh, with 
an exclamation of astonishment : 

“ I do believe we’ve never one of us thought what day it 
is ! This is Christmas eve !” 

The evening was given to chatting, as they sat in the dark- 
ness half illumined by the red embers of their fire, for they 
wanted to save their lantern oil, and would not allow them- 
selves to burn it uselessly ; nor was it late when they went 
to sleep. 


Chapter XV. 

CHRISTMAS BIRD-CATCHING. 

“ Merry Christmas !” 

It was the Captain’s voice, who felt it a part of his duty 
to be the first “ on deck ” in the morning, but had a rival in 
his sister, who was quite as active as he. 

“Merry Christmas! this what you call merry?” in- 
quired Jim, fretfully, as with his finger he traced figures 
in the frost on the under side of the canvas. 

“Well, let’s try to make it ae merry as we can,” Katy 
cried, cheerfully, from the starboard corner of the stern- 
sheets. 

“ I know what I’m going to do,” said Tug — “ make bird- 
traps. I lay awake a long time in the night planning 
them.” 

“ While you fellows talkee-talkee I’ll build a fire ;” and 
Aleck’s tall form was soon bent over the heap of wood, 
where a blaze was quickly crackling. Tug and Jim fol- 
lowed, and all went out of doors, as was their custom, leav- 
ing Katy the whole igloo to herself for a little while. 

Immediately after breakfast Tug began on his traps. 


The Ice Queen . 


123 


He had brought along with him as a part of his baggage 
what he sometimes called his gunsmith shop. It consisted 
of a square tin box that would hold about two quarts of 
chestnuts — if he had had any chestnuts to put in it, which 
he hadn’t. Besides a bag of Ho. 6 shot, this box contained 
one of the strangest and most worthless collections of odds 
and ends of boyish hardware that could be imagined. A 
catalogue of it would be useless. Among other articles 
were a knife-blade that long ago had parted from its handle, 
a brad-awl in the same condition, and a broken bullet-mould 
bound together by a long winding of fine wire. 

These three things the lad picked out and laid aside. 
Then he turned over the rest of the contents of the box un- 
til he had secured several tacks and brads of varied sizes, 
and a round piece of tin with holes in it. Hext he dis- 
covered something which made him shout with a joy almost 
equal to his delight at finding the tree trunk. This best of 
all the finds, this forgotten treasure in the tin box, was a 
small coil of horse-hairs. They were the relics of a prepara- 
tion he had made for a short camping trip into the woods 
three months before, while the October haze and bright cool 
air were playing among the rustling autumn leaves. How 
the scene came back to him ! How these hairs would serve 
him for a better use than mere amusement. He was care- 
fully unwinding them when Jim rushed in to 6ay that the 
snow-birds were around again. 


124 


The Ice Queen . 


“ Good !” cried Tug. “Take some crumbs out of the 
cracker box, and quietly throw them down where the snow- 
birds can get them. Put ’em on the top of the hummock 
first, then we’ll gradually toll ’em down below. I’ll be out 
in a minute.” 

Jim got his crackers and vanished. Aleck was chopping 
wood, and Katy was with him. It was a cold day, but 
sunny, and there were no signs of the snow melting. Tug, 
alone in the house, looked fondly at his tools, and having 
nobody else to speak to, talked to himself. 

“We’re like the boy and the ground-hog. ‘We ain’t 
got no meat for the supper, and the preacher’s cornin’.’ 
So I guess I’d better leave the twitch-ups and make some 
common box traps that Kate and the kid can watch. Come 
here — you !” 

This last was addressed to a wooden box about twelve 
inches square, in which Katy had been wont to pack the 
small articles of table use. Tug turned them all out, and 
pulled off the leather hinges that held the cover. Then, 
taking an oak splinter from the firewood, he cut it to the 
size of a lead-pencil, and notched it in the middle. In this 
notch he tied the end of the ball of twine which formed a 
part of the boat’s stores, and cut off a length of about fifteen 
feet. Next, he drew the locker out of the bearings upon 
which it rested, emptied it of its contents, and made a stick 


The Ice Queen . 


125 


and length of twine to fit it in the same way. Lastly, he 
tore two pieces a foot or so square from their one strong 
sheet of white paper. He had been at work scarcely ten 
minutes, but had ready two simple traps. Then he went 
outside and called to Katy, who came quickly. 

“Katy,” he said, “I have something for you to do. 
Please get a blanket and come out on top of the hummock, 
where you’ll find me.” 

While the girl went inside for the blanket Tug climbed 
up to the icy hill-top, where a small flock of snow-birds 
were pecking away at the crumbs Jim had thrown out. 
The lad crept stealthily towards them, and though the birds 
moved away, they were not greatly frightened, and did not 
go far. As quietly and rapidly as possible he spread down 
his pieces of paper on the highest part of the hummock, at 
a little distance apart, and not far from the edge of the ice 
table. Then, setting his boxes bottom upward, he perched 
each one slantwise upon one of his sticks, and stretched the 
strings away to the hummock’s edge. On the paper under- 
neath the boxes, and somewhat on the snow about them, he 
spread his bait of crumbs. Then showing Katy, who had 
now come out, where she could hide herself behind the 
edge of the upheaved ice cakes, he told her to wrap her- 
self up well in the blanket, and to keep perfectly still till 
the birds came back. They would pick at the crumbs un- 


126 The Ice Queen . 

til by and by one or two of them would be sure to step 
under the boxes. 

“ Then,” said he, “you jerk your string, the box falls, and 
Mr. Snow-flake is a prisoner.” 

So Katy took her position, and Tug, asking Jim to help 
him, went off to make some other traps. 

“ Youngster,” he directed, “ I want you to cut me eight 
square pieces of ice, each one about as big as a brick, and 
after .that two slabs about eighteen inches square and two 
or three inches thick. You can take the axe and cut ’em 
out in big chunks from the hummock, and then saw ’em 
into shape — here’s the saw — and mind you keep away from 
where Katy is.” 

“ What do you want them for ?” 

“ For traps — never you mind why : you’ll see presently,” 
was the lofty reply. 

Jim thought it a little unfair, but he good-naturedly took 
the axe and saw and went to work. 

In half an hour he came to say he was done, and was 
quickly followed by his sister, whose face was beaming. 

“I’ve caught three!” she cried. 

“Three? Good!” 

“ Yes, they came, a big flock — about forty, I should think 
— and chattered and twittered about over the house.” 

“I heard ’em,” Tug exclaimed. ^ 


KATY TRAPPING THE SNOW-BUNTINGS. 


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The Ice Queen. 


129 


u Yes ? Well, they seemed to enjoy warming their wings 
in the smoke, for they flew through it lots of times. Then 
pretty soon one spied a crumb, and I suppose he called his 
fellows, for in a minute they came all hopping about on 
the snow, and getting nearer and nearer the boxes. I got 
so nervous I could hardly hold the strings still, but I kept 
as quiet as a mouse — ” 

“ Or as a cat after a mouse !” interrupted Aleck, who had 
come in with an armful of wood. 

“ — and pretty soon one little bird went right under the 
locker. There was another close behind him, but I was too 
anxious to wait, and I pulled the string, catching one and 
knocking the other over. It made so little noise that the 
rest of the flock were not alarmed, and I suppose they didn’t 
miss the lost one, for pretty soon they began to go around 
the locker, and one flew right on top of it. I was afraid he 
would tumble it down, but he didn’t, and in a minute another 
had gone under. But there was a third hopping right tow- 
ards the paper, and so I just waited till he had run under, 
when — piff ! — I had them both !” 

“ Good for you, Katy !” cried the delighted boys. “ You’ll 
make a sportsfnan yet !” 


9 


Chapter XYI. 

HOW TUG MADE “TWITCH-UPS.” 

“ It’s cold work, though,” Katy replied, “ sitting so still 
out on that ice. I am just stiff.” 

“ I’ll fix that all right,” Tug said, showing some small 
forked and notched sticks he had cut out of oaken chips. 
“ Come out with me, and I’ll show you how to set a trap 
that will drop itself, or, rather, where the bird shuts his own 
prison door.” 

Gathering up Jim’s blocks and slabs of ice, the whole 
party climbed to the top of the hummock, which, as I have 
said, was almost the only spot in the wide plain free from 
deep snow, and Tug went to work. 

Making a little hole in the ice, he wedged into it a short, 
flat-topped peg, and packed a handful of snow about its 
base. 

Then with the brick-like blocks of ice he arranged a hol- 
low square around the peg. On top of the peg he laid 
the flattened side of the stem of a forked stick, like a letter 
■< laid flat, and on top of that, as though it were a con- 



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SETTING THE NEW TRAPS 








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The Ice Queen . 


133 


tinuation of the peg, he set a post about ten inches high. 
Asking Aleck to hold these twigs in position for him, he 
took one of the slabs, lodged an end of it on the rim of the 
little wall made by his “ bricks,” and gently rested the other 
end upon the top of the post, which was held in its upright 
position under the pressure, at the same time keeping the ■< 
in place. This arranged, he spread crumbs about the trap 
and thickly inside. Then he announced it ready. 

“ Oh, I see how it works,” Katy cried. “ The bird, in 
leaping down, is almost sure to perch on the forked twig, or, 
at least, to strike it. That throws it out of place, and tum- 
bles the whole cover down, shutting him in.” 

“ Correct !” said Tug, admiringly, as he went to work on 
a second trap of the same kind. 

This set, all left the hummock (except Jim, who agreed to 
take his turn, wrapped in a blanket, at watching the strings) 
and joined labor in making two or three more of the new 
ice traps, for now that the birds were plenty, they wanted 
to capture as many as possible. 

“ If only I had some sort of a spring,” Tug announced, 
“ I could make twitch-ups. I’ve all the rest of the fixin’s, 
’cause I found some horse-hairs in my ‘ shop’ this morning ; 
but I don’t see how I am to get a springy twig or a strip of 
whalebone. I had some old umbrella-ribs, but I didn’t bring 
’em along. Wish I had.” 


134 


The Ice Queen . 


Aleck thought over all his stores, but could remember 
nothing that would answer the purpose. “ How about your 
ramrod ?” he asked. 

“ Too stiff,” Tug replied. 

So they gave up talking, and attended to their work. 
Suddenly Aleck went to the log, split off a strip of oak, and 
whittled it into a thin rod. “ How is that ?” he said, as he 
banded it to his comrade. 

Tug beat his hands and blew on his aching fingers a while 
before answering. Then he bent the rod gently, but before 
it was curved half as far as he needed, it broke. 

“ Ho good. Nothing but hickory will stand the strain.” 

“ I’ll tell you what you might do, perhaps,” Katy sug- 
gested, having come out just in time to witness this little 
trial. “ The handle of the boat-hook is hickory. If you 
could make an oak handle for that, you could split the hick- 
ory up into springles, couldn’t you ?” 

“ That’s so ! — that’s a bright idea. Try it, Tug,” and the 
Captain ran off for the boat-hook. The shaft of this was 
straight-grained, well-seasoned, and tough, but an oaken staff 
would serve its purpose quite as well. 

“ I should think that would answer first-rate,” said Tug, 
“ but you had better whittle out your oak stick first. It 
would be rough to be caught suddenly without any handle 
to our boat-hook.” 


The Ice Queen . 135 

“ That’s so,” Aleck assented, and took his axe to split a 
suitable piece from the log. 

The making and shaping of a new handle, even in the rough, 
cost him much labor with his few tools. It was nearly an hour, 
therefore, before he was ready to pull the irons off the old han- 
dle and fasten the new one into its place ; and fully another 
hour had passed by the time this difficult job had been done. 

Then, with great care, and by the help of little wedges, a 
clean, straight splinter about as thick as your finger was split 
from the tough hickory staff. It was tried by the trap- 
maker, very gently at first, and bent well, so that it was 
pronounced serviceable, though not as good as a green twig 
or sapling, such as one would cut in the woods for the same 
purpose. It would answer to try with, however, and after 
a bit of luncheon they watched Tug make his twitch-ups — 
or, at least, all did except the one on duty at the strings. As 
Tug himself had to take a turn, he didn’t get his traps done 
in time to put them up that day. 

Next morning, however, all were out bright and early to 
help him do so. The snow-flakes had been there before, 
however, and one unfortunate had stepped on a treacherous 
fork, and was caught. 

Having arranged two more ice-boxes and letter Y traps, 
for which the pieces had been cut yesterday, they all gath- 
ered around Tug to watch him set his first twitch-up. 


136 


The Ice Queen . 


With one of the tent spikes he dug a slanting hole in the 
ice, into which he inserted one end of his hickory splint, 
which was about four feet long, fastening it firmly by ram- 
ming ice and snow down into the hole beside it, which 
would quickly freeze solid. A short distance from the foot 
of the splint he then laid down a short board, which was 
braced at the foot (or end farthest from the splint) against 
the side of a trough cut in the ice. The remaining three 
sides of the board were then fenced in by small blocks of 
ice. 

Next, taking from his pocket a cord made by twisting two 
horse-hairs together, he slipped one end through a loop in 
the other, thus making a noose, and tied it to the top of the 
hickory splint. This done, he bent down the splint until 
he hooked its tip under the nearest end, or head, of the 
board, which was raised a couple of inches from the ground. 
Spreading the noose carefully out upon the board, he 
sprinkled within a particularly nice lot of crumbs, then laid 
a little train away from the foot of the board as a leader, 
and the snare was ready. The weight of the bird tread- 
ing upon the board to get the bait would press it down 
enough to let the lightly caught whip end of the splint 
spring up : this would pull the noose with a sudden move- 
ment, and the bird would find itself dangling in the air by 
the legs or a wing, or possibly by the neck. 




The Ice Queen . 


137 


Removing their captive, and resetting the square trap, 
the whole party went out of sight to await further results. 
Yesterday they had captured thirteen birds in all, and had 
eaten only nine. With three more traps, they ought to do 
better to-day, and so accumulate a little stock ahead. 

“ At any rate,” Katy observed, “ we’ve plenty of refrig- 
erator room to keep them in.” 

They had, indeed — a refrigerator about a hundred miles 
square ! 


Chapter XVII. 

THE BREAKING UP OF THE ICE. 

Breakfast was late the next morning, for Katy proposed 
to vary their fare by frying some snow-birds with bacon, 
and Jim was called upon to help pluck and prepare them — 
work which did not please that young gentleman very much. 

“I suppose now we shall have nothing but snow-birds, 
snow-birds,” he growled. 

“ Do try and be a little more cheerful, Jim,” said Katy. 
“ You are always grumbling about something.” 

“What else do you want?” asked Tug. “ You have got 
beef, though it’s dried, and bacon and poultry.” 

“ Flesh, fowl, and good red herring,” quoted Aleck, from 
an old proverb. 

“ All but the herring,” grunted The Youngster, crossly. 
“ Now if only we had some fish — ” 

“ Fish !” Tug shouted, leaping to his feet. “ Never 
thought of it, as Fm a Dutchman ! Why shouldn’t we ? 
We have only got to cut a hole in the ice, and ‘ drop ’em a 
line,’ as the man told his wife to do when he went off to 
Californy.” 


The Ice Queen . 


139 


“ Strange we never thought of that,” said Katy. 

“ Strange ? I’m the biggest dolt in three counties. Why, 
I’ll catch you some be-’utif ul muskallonge for dinner. Come 
on, Captain. Let’s cut a hole while the boy is cleaning those 
twopenny tomtits.” 

“ Hold on !” cried the disgusted Jim ; “I’m coming too.” 

“No, no, my dear child” (Tug’s voice was that of a pity- 
ing mother). “Remember Captain’s order. You’re to be 
a nice boy, and help in the kitchen. Maybe we’ll let you 
cut the heads off our fishes, if you do well with the birds. 
Ca-a-reful !” and the tormentor dodged a club hurled by the 
angry lad, who wished (and said so) that he was only a lit- 
tle bigger. 

Jim and Katy both felt it was hard indeed that he should 
be deprived of this particular fun, in which he took so much 
interest, and it seemed as though the big fellows might have 
waited. The cook would willingly have let her scullion de- 
part, but an order was an order, and he had to stay, pluck- 
ing savagely at the pretty feathers of the innocent buntings, 
and declining to come back to good-humor, until the lads 
returned with the report that they had cut two holes in the 
thin ice that formed over the “lead,” which, the reader will 
remember, was crossed just a few rods back, and now were 
ready to set their lines. 

Here was a chance of revenge. Jim’s own line was the 


140 


The Ice Queen . 


most important one in their small stock. He was tempted 
to refuse to let them use it ; but he was not a bad fellow, 
and a better heart prevailed. 

“ You’ll find my line and pickerel spoon in that little box 
of things in our chest,” he said. 

Tug walked up to him and offered his hand. 

“ Jeems, I’ll accept your apology for throwing sticks of 
wood at your uncle, and call it square. Agreed ?” 

“ Yes !” said Jim, with a laugh, and peace was restored. 

Doubtless you expect an entertaining chapter out of the 
fishing, but it can’t be given if we are to stick to the facts 
of this cruise. Ho : the big muskallonge they hoped to 
catch was somewhere under the ice, but whether it was be^ 
cause he didn’t see their bait, or was not tempted, or knew 
better than to bite, certain is it that none of these giants of 
winter fishing were caught. With the toothsome pickerel 
they had better luck, and several were taken on this first 
and on following days, so that Jim did not lose all the fun 
by his unlucky engagement in the kitchen. The greatest 
adventures of the trip were not so much in fishing and hunt- 
ing as in being fished and hunted after ; and these were to 
begin without much delay. 

The day the log was found and the first snow-birds were 
captured it had turned cold again, and it remained so for 
a whole week ; but our heroes were kept busy in watching 


The Ice Queen . 


141 

the traps, which caught them more snow-birds than they 
could eat ; in attending to the fishing ; and in getting wood. 
The snow did not melt at all, for the weather was very cold 
indeed, and sometimes the wind blew frightfully, but al- 
ways in such a way that the hummock sheltered the tent- 
house pretty well, so that, with the help of a big fire, they 
could keep warm enough. For amusement, they marked 
out a checker-board, and played checkers and other games. 
They tried their hands — or, rather, their heads — at spinning 
yarns also ; they examined each other in geography or gram- 
mar, and held spelling competitions, choosing words out of 
Dr. Dasent’s book, which they came to learn almost by heart. 
At all these studious entertainments Katy was likely to be 
ahead. But when the subject was turned to arithmetic, 
Aleck became teacher, for that w r as his favorite study. 

Thus the week had passed, and its close completed the 
fifteenth day since they had left home, which seemed very 
far away now. They had no anxiety so long as the weath- 
er held cold ; or, if any one felt worried^ he did not talk 
about it. 

At the end of this week, however, the wind changed in 
the night to the southward, so that on the eighth morn- 
ing of their stay in the igloo they found the air almost as 
balmy as spring, with a gentle breeze from the south. The 
sun was shining, also, and no birds came near the house all 


142 


The Ice Queen . 


day. This was compensated for, however, by their taking 
the largest pickerel yet. Towards noon it clouded up, and 
began to rain, melting the snow with such rapidity that 
the whole region was covered with slush. The shapeless 
tent-roof let streams of water pour in at the sides, and, alto- 
gether, affairs were very disagreeable. 

No one felt disposed to grumble, however, since, when 
the snow had been washed away, or cold weather came again 
to freeze solid the slush and surface-water, they could go 
ahead on their journey — something all were extremely anx- 
ious to do. 

The wind continued to blow from the south all night, 
and when Aleck went out next morning he hurried back 
with an alarmed face to report that distant open water could 
be seen in that direction. 

“ The snow has almost gone. I must take a scout after 
breakfast, and see what the prospect is.” 

As soon as the coffee and fried pickerel had been dis- 
posed of, therefore, Aleck set out, taking Jim with him. 

When two hours had passed, and the scouts did not re- 
turn, Tug and Katy became alarmed, and went to the crest 
of the ridge. It had grown so foggy, however, that noth- 
ing could be seen. 

“Hadn’t we better make a big smoke,” Katy suggest- 
ed, “as a signal? The fog might lift for a minute, and 


The Ice Queen . 


143 

give them a chance to catch sight of it. They must be 
lost.” 

“It’s a good idea, as are most of your notions, Katy. 
I’ll get some of that wet root-wood, and make a fire on top 
of the hummock.” 

It was done, and another hour passed. Chilly with the 
fog and the raw wind, they had gone down into the hut to 
get warm, and were just attending to the “kitchen” fire, 
when their ears were startled by a loud, sharp noise, like 
the report of a distant cannon, only much sharper; then 
another, still louder ; then a third, somewhat nearer ; and, 
after a minute’s interval, a fourth tremendous crash, close 
by the house, which trembled under their feet and over 
their heads as though an earthquake had shaken it. 

“The ice is cracking!” Tug cried, seizing Katy’s hand, 
and dragging her to the boat, into which both jumped in 
terror. 

An instant later Tug recovered himself. “ This is no 
use,” he said. “ Our ice is firm just here, and I don’t hear 
her bursting any more. Let’s go outside.” 

“ Don’t you think we’d better put some of the food-boxes 
and things into the boat, so that they won’t be lost if the ice 
here should break to pieces suddenly ?” 

“Yes, we might do that. Let’s hurry.” 

Five minutes was enough for this work, and then both 


144 


The Ice Queen. 


went out and climbed upon the hummock. They found 
the whole appearance of things changed towards the south 
and east. Where, yesterday, had lain one broad white field 
of solid ice, as far as the eye could reach, now were spread 
before them (for the fog had lifted a little, so that they 
could see better) the long, slow waves of a lake of blue wa- 
• ter, filled with cakes and wide sheets of floating ice. 

“ Oh ! oh !” Katy cried, wringing her little hands at the 
thought, “ Aleck and Jim are drowned . 55 

“ No, I guess not , 55 said Tug, encouragingly. “ They are 
probably safe on some of those big pieces of ice . 55 

“ But how will they ever get back ?” 

“I don’t know , 55 her companion answered, slowly. “If 
only this terrible fog would go away, so that we could see 
something, perhaps we might help them. I don’t know 
what we can do now but to keep up our smoke . 55 

“ I wonder if we are afloat ?” Katy asked, trying to steady 
her voice, for she saw how useless it was to weep when so 
much might be required of her any minute. “ Ah, Rex, 
good dog, what shall we do now ? Can’t you find your 
master 


Chapter XYIII. 

RESCUING THE WANDERERS. 

Rex wagged his tail mournfully, and looked at the strange 
scene, whining as if he understood it all, but was at his wits’ 
end how to act. 

“Afloat?” Tug repeated, after a minute. “There are 
cracks on each side of us, and a narrow one part way behind, 
between us and that high hummock over there to the south- 
ward, which, in my opinion, hides the low, flat land, for I 
think it is only four or five miles to the shore. Rut it 
might as well have been four or five hundred while that 
snow lasted. Let’s watch, and see if the crack gets wider.” 

“Do you feel quite sure, Tug, that Aleck and Jim are 
on one of those big cakes of ice?” The tone of Katy’s 
voice was very anxious. 

“ Yes, I do, Katy. They certainly have not jumped ofl 
and drowned themselves on purpose.” 

This made Katy smile, in spite of her anxiety. 

“ They surely are not very far off; but, the most alarm- 
ing part of the business is, how they are to get to us if that 
10 


146 


The Ice Queen . 


big crack increases to the size of a river. Can you make 
up your mind whether it is really growing wider ?” 

In the course of half an hour it became very plain that 
the crack was getting wider rapidly, and their icy founda- 
tion, which they had thought so fixed, had now become a 
big raft, slowly drifting down the lake under the pushing 
of the steady west wind — moving a little faster than its 
companion rafts in the wide waste, because its high hum- 
mock served as a sort of sail. All the cakes our watchers 
could see were much smaller than this one. Occasionally 
these pieces would crash together, and crumble, or one 
would slide under the other. Sometimes their own “ floe,” 
as Dr. Kane would have called so large a piece, collided 
with others, but always came off victorious. They came to 
the conclusion that its having the thick hummock, like a 
great, solid back-bone, rendered it far stronger than the rest, 
as well as a better sailer. 

Beside them another floe, also bearing a hummock (a sec- 
tion of their own), was pressing its way on, to the ruin of 
smaller ones. It was separated from their floe by an open 
canal, perhaps five hundred yards wide, and floated along 
about even with them, sometimes swinging nearer, some- 
times receding. This great cake, an acre or more in ex- 
tent, lay in the direction whither the absent ones had gone, 
and it was hoped that they were upon it. This would be 


The Ice Queen . 147 

the next best tiling to having them safely back, but the 
chance was a small one, at best. 

Talking over these loopholes of escape, Katy and Tug 
tried to forget their discomforts and dangers, and to show 
each other cheerful and reliant faces. Nevertheless it was 
dreary work. 

The weary day wore on — the day they thought would 
perhaps be their last — until night, with its starless gloom, 
was surrounding the desolate picture of grinding ice and of 
black, rolling waves, dimly seen. Chilled to the bone, for 
neither could bear to stay within the hut, they had grown 
silent and almost despairing, when Rex suddenly started to 
his feet, and, pricking up his ears, looked intently towards 
the great floe beside them, which had now approached much 
nearer. Then, after listening a moment, he uttered a loud 
bark, and bounded off. The two castaways followed to the 
edge of the ice, and there, having silenced Rex, could pres- 
ently hear a faint halloo — her brother’s voice ! 

“ Halloo ! halloo-o !” they shrieked back. 

“Let us get the boat, and go after them!” cried Katy, 
nearly wild with joy and excitement. 

“Can’t do it,” said Tug, in a discouraged tone. “All 
four of us couldn’t budge that boat and sledge before morn- 
ing. It is frozen in, and has got to be chopped out and 
dried up. Must do something besides get the boat,” 


148 


The Ice Queen . 


“ That floe is nearer than it has been before, Tug. May- 
be it’ll come quite close.” 

“Yes, mebbe it will. I ’low that’s our only hope. We 
can do nothing, Katy, but watch, and — and pray, Katy. 
Let us go back to the fire. It is cold here, and we can do 
no good. Once in a while I’ll come down and scream across 
to cheer ’em up.” 

Reluctantly, therefore, they returned to the igloo, warmed 
their feet, and picked up something to eat, but did not go 
to bed. Tug and Rex would frequently run out and shout 
across to Aleck, reporting at each return that the water- 
space (as well as could be guessed in the darkness) seemed 
to be surely narrowing. Towards morning Katy was per- 
suaded to lie down, consenting to do so only when prom- 
ised that she should be roused as soon as daylight appeared. 
Tug himself fell asleep, but both awoke w T ith the first light 
of dawn, and hastened together to the edge of the floe, 
where the water lay calm and smooth, gray as iron and cold 
as death, between the divided friends. 

“ Oh, I can see them !” cried the girl, and sent a cheery 
call across the “ lead,” which had now narrowed to a few rods. 
“ Poor little Jim ! See how he has to lean against Aleck.” 

“We’re safe,” came back the shout, “but almost worn- 
out. Can you move the boat ?” 

“No.” 


The Ice Queen . 


149 


“ Then unroll the ball of twine, and tie one end of it to 
the clothes-line, and to the other end of the clothes-line 
knot all the drag-ropes put together. Then fasten the loose 
end of the twine to Rex’s collar, and make the dog bring it 
to me. Understand ?” 

“Yes.” 

But Tug didn’t quite understand. He was off too soon, 
in his haste to get the twine and clothes-line and ropes. 
Aleck hadn’t finished his directions. 

“ Tell Tug,” he shouted again to Katy, “ to bring the sled, 
and fasten that to the drag-ropes. When I have hauled the 
ropes across, and got hold of the sled, I’ll send Rex back, 
and you can pull in the twine, and catch the ropes, and tow 
us across. Hurry up, if you want us alive! This ice may 
drift apart again.” 

In five minutes Tug came running back, with all his prep- 
arations made. Now everything depended upon Rex. The 
twine was slipped through his collar, and securely knotted, 
Katy kneeling the while with her arms about his shaggy 
head, whispering to him what he was to do. Then, in a 
stern voice, Tug commanded : 

“ Go, Rex — go to Aleck !” at the same time pushing him 
into the water, while the Captain coaxed from the other 
side, and even Jim roused himself at this joyful prospect 
of deliverance. 


The Ice Queen . 


150 

At first the dog, brave as he was, turned back, whining 
pitifully at the freezing water. But they fought him away, 
and finally poor Bex struck out and swam across to where 
Aleck was anxiously waiting to lift him out. Taking hold 
of the twine the dog had brought, the Captain reeled it in 
as rapidly as his stiffened fingers would let him, until the 
clothes-line began to come, and after it the heavier drag- 
ropes. 

But both clothes-line and drag-ropes together proved too 
short to reach quite across, and the floes seemed to have 
stopped their approach to each other, so that waiting would 
be useless, if not dangerous. 

“There is about ten feet lacking,” Aleck shouted. “You 
must find some more rope.” 

“ Can’t do it, unless I cut it off the mainsail.” 

“ Cut it off, then, and make haste.” 

Tug went off on a run, and another five minutes passed 
by before he got back. Already the canal had begun to 
widen, so that fifteen feet instead of ten would be required. 

Tossing the rope into the sled-box, Tug screamed, “ All 
right !” and the captain began drawing the sled to his side 
as quickly as possible, so that the two parties were again 
disconnected, and wholly reliant upon the nervous and 
frightened dog, which Jim was holding firmly, and coax- 
ing into quiet. Swiftly splicing the rope with the new 


REX STRUCK OUT AND SWAM ACROSS. 










The Ice Queen. 


153 


piece, the dog was let go. This time he leaped eagerly 
into the water for his return trip, apparently feeling perfect- 
ly the responsibility laid upon him, though perhaps he was 
only frightened, and eager to get back to what seemed home. 

Positions were now reversed. Aleck and Jim had the 
sled — Tug and Katy the twine. Drawing this in, all waited 
with feverish anxiety to see if there would be length of rope 
enough. There was; but so rapidly had the floes drifted 
apart that Tug held the very end of the taut line in his out- 
stretched hand, and had not a bit to spare. One minute 
more, and the lines would not have reached across. 

Then they saw Aleck snatch off his overcoat, his under- 
coat, and his boots, and put them into the box of the sled, 
which was floating unsteadily at the margin of the ice. 
They saw him half lift the exhausted Jim, helping him to 
get into the box, and then heard him call out in quick words : 

“ Don’t try to pull at all hard until you can catch the big 
rope. I am going to swim and push a little ways, but I ex- 
pect I shall be too chilled to do more than a little. When 
I stop pushing, and you get hold of the drag-ropes, haul us 
both ashore as fast as you can. Here goes !” 

With these words he slid into the water, swimming with 
his right hand, while with his left he pushed along the 
box and sled, which was half sunken, and in which Jimmy 
crouched, shaking with cold, but afraid to stir. 


154 


The Ice Queen . 


“ Keep it up a little longer !” Tug sung out, as he knelt 
on the edge of the ice, and carefully gathered in the clothes- 
line until he could almost clutch the end of the stronger 
rope. “ I’ve almost got it ! About two strokes more ! All 
right ! Kow hold on with both arms, and we’ll soon have 
you.” Whereupon Katy seized the rope with him, and 
both together pulled as hard and as fast as they knew how. 

The strange little ferry-boat and its passengers seemed to 
approach very slowly, but finally it came so near that Tug 
stopped hauling on the line, and knelt down in order to 
lean out and grasp the box after Katy should have pulled 
it a few inches closer. Jim, seeing this motion, forgot how 
delicate was the balance, and rose up, when in an instant 
the unsteady craft tipped, and the boy went backward into 
and under the blue lake. At any rate, so it seemed to the 
spectators ; but the little fellow, making a despairing clutch 
as he went over, had gripped a runner of the sled, and a 
second later his face appeared close by the ice, where the 
fond sister, pale as he, seized his arm and helped him scram- 
ble out. 


Chapter XIX. 

ADRIFT ON AN ICE RAFT. 

Meanwhile Aleck, startled by the upset of the sled and 
Jim’s disappearance, had let go of his support. Xow, see- 
ing Jim safe, he was trying to regain it, when suddenly 
Tug saw him throw up his hand and sink out of sight. 

Tug knew what that meant, and that there was not an 
instant to spare. Tearing off his coat — he had thrown aside 
his overcoat in the heat of the work before — he watched till 
he saw Aleck rising through the clear water, then dashed in, 
followed by the noble dog, and grasped his hair. Aleck 
hung in his hold a dead weight, as though life had gone ; 
but Tug knew that the fatal end had not come yet, and that 
this was only the fainting of utter exhaustion and the cramp- 
ing paralysis of cold. Cold ! Tug had felt the dreadful 
chill striking through and through him the instant he had 
touched the water. Already it was clogging his motions 
and overcoming his strength with a fearful numbness that 
would fast render him powerless. And Aleck had been in 
that stiffening, paralyzing flood several minutes ! 

All this went through Tug’s mind, as on a dark night a 


The Ice Queen . 


156 

flash of lightning enters and leaves the pupil of the eye ; it 
took “ no time at all,” and the instant he had hooked his 
fingers in Aleck’s hair he shouted to Katy to shove out the 
sled where he might reach it. She did so, and by it drew 
both the lads to the ice, the brave rescuer grasping the 
friendly box and towing his senseless Captain. 

Then a new difficulty presented itself. Aleck was perfectly 
helpless, and like a log in the water ; or worse than that, for 
he would sink if Tug loosed his hold. How should they 
get him out ? 

Katy saw this problem, and said to Tug, as soon as the 
ice had been reached, while she knelt at the brink of the 
splashing water : 

“Let me hold his head up — I can do it — until you can 
climb out ; then both of us together, I guess, can drag him 
up on to the ice. Oh dear ! will he ever come to ?” 

Her tears blinded her eyes, but she dashed them away, 
and took firm hold upon Aleck’s collar, while Tug scram- 
bled out. Then, while Katy held his head above the curl- 
ing, gurgling little waves that the wind was chasing, Tug 
slipped one end of the rope under Aleck’s arms, and made 
a loop about his body, by which they were able to drag his 
lifeless form out upon the ice, as though he were a fish or a 
seal. 

“ How let’s have the sled !” screamed Tug, minding neither 



* 


The Ice Queen . 


159 


his own freezing garments nor Katy’s anguish ; and having 
pulled this from the water, he and Katy lifted Aleck upon 
it, and set off as fast as they could for the tent, whither the 
miserable Youngster had already started in a staggering 
trot, with many groans and rough tumbles. The others over- 
took him, and all went on together; but Jimkin got no 
comfort, for Aleck might be drowned — they did not know ; 
while Jim, though certainly miserable, was alive and active, 
enough so, at least, to look after himself. 

“ How fortunate that there happened to be a kettle of 
hot water on the fire !” 

“ Yes. How here we are. We’ll have to drag him through 
the low doorway heels first. Help me lift him off the sled, 
Katy.” 

Laid on straw and overcoats by the warm fire, Tug quickly 
stripped off the Captain’s wet clothes, while Katy brought 
warm blankets, and wrapped him in them. 

“ Didn’t you say you had a little bottle of brandy, Katy ?” 

“ Yes ; Miss Marshall told us we ought never to go on a 
long journey without it, and I brought it along for fear 
something like this might happen. Here it is.” 

Taking the bottle, Tug forced a few drops between 
Aleck’s lips and saw them trickle down his throat. A minute 
later there was a stronger throb of the fluttering heart, a 
quiver of the eyelids, and a faint, sighing groan, which the 


160 The Ice Queen. 

anxious watchers could just hear. At this sign of returning 
life they rose and grasped each other’s hands. The tears 
Katy had so bravely kept back when she had had work to do 
and no time to cry came now in an unrestrained shower ; 
but they were tears of joy, for the Captain was waking up 
all right. 

Now poor little Jim got some attention, and Katy left 
them to themselves while the three boys helped each other 
to get rid of their icy clothes and crawl into the blankets 
and warm straw of their bedrooms, as they called the hull of 
the boat. This done, Katy came back and made hot tea for 
her three tucked-up patients, which so revived them that 
Tug and Jim begged to be allowed to get up as soon as their 
clothes had been dried ; but Aleck said he wanted to sleep 
two weeks, and so would stay in bed a little longer. 

As for Rex, whose heroism in bringing back Aleck’s float- 
ing coat, when he was unable to aid his drowning master 
himself, had been forgotten until now, he was content to lie 
in a snug corner and wait for the half-frozen fish his mis- 
tress had promised him should presently be the reward of 
his faithfulness. 

That eventful day came to an end without anything 
further to disturb their peace. Aleck rose towards evening, 
and went out fishing with Jim and Tug, catching two or 
three pickerel. The night passed in unusual quiet, for the 


The Ice Queen. 


161 


wind, though steady, was not a whistling gale, nor did the 
grinding roar of moving ice come to their ears, as it had 
sometimes during the previous daytime. 

In the morning the same clouds were overhead, the same 
vague haze hid the horizon, the same waste of ice and water 
surrounded their lonely camp, the same quiet breeze breathed 
steadily across the lake, and, but for occasional noises of their 
own making, the whole world seemed profoundly still. This 
was depressing, and the spirits of each one of our young ad- 
venturers sank to a level with the flat ice and the dull gray 
sky ; yet it was evident that nothing could be done except to 
wait as patiently as possible for some change. 

“ If yez can’t be aisy, be as aisy as ye can,” remarked 
Tug, quoting an excellent Irish rule of life under adverse 
circumstances; but the pleasantry met with only a faint 
smile from his disheartened companions. All thought that 
any active perils would be better than this motionless, ob- 
jectless gloom, so threatening because so still and uncertain. 

“ I wonder if we haven’t stopped drifting,” said Katy, as 
they were pretending to eat a bit of luncheon, for which no- 
body had much appetite ; and, more for the sake of doing 
something than because it seemed to make much difference 
whether they had come to a standstill or not, they took a 
few chips to the edge of the floe, and threw them into the 
water. These tossed up and down on the gentle waves, 

11 


162 


The Ice Queen. 


but did not change their position at all, so our navigators 
concluded their floe to be at last stationary. 

“ How far do you think we have drifted ?’ ? Jim asked his 
brother. 

“Well,” Aleck replied, “I’ve been studying over that. 
We don’t know just when we started nor exactly when we 
stopped — if we have stopped — nor whether we have gone 
steadily on. I have seen something of drifting ice, and I 
should say we had gone probably between twenty and twen- 
ty-five miles, all right out into the middle of the lake.” 

“ Then you have some idea of where we are ?” 

“ Oh, yes ; that’s quite easily calculated by ‘ dead-reckon- 
ing,’ as sailors say.” 

The west wind now began to subside, and before long the 
air became still and the mists thicker, with dense, low clouds 
massing close overhead. On land it must have been a warm, 
thawing day. Out here it was always chilly, but the four 
persons were not uncomfortable, even when their overcoats 
were unbuttoned, partly, however, because they had become 
accustomed to constant exposure. 

Before the sun went down the air grew much cooler, and 
the fog thinned out, while the wind freshened and worked 
around until it blew briskly and very cold from the north. 
This soon swept away the mists, but not the clouds ; yet light 
enough remained just before dusk to give Aleck a brief look 




The Ice Queen. 


163 

to the northward. He could see a great field of rough ice, 
apparently made up of broken pieces crushed and jammed 
together, stretching in that direction to the horizon. This 
horizon was broken in one place, however, by a darker patch, 
that looked as though it might be land ; but before he could 
examine it more carefully it had become lost in the darkness. 

Returning to the house, the Captain ordered every prep- 
aration to be made for a possible removal. While Katy 
cooked their evening meal, the boys worked with axe and 
shovel until they had freed the runners under the boat, so 
that she could be dragged away quickly. Then the wall 
was taken down, and the boxes stowed carefully. Several 
of them had been emptied during the long halt, and it 
made the lads feel very grave to notice how low their 
stock of provisions and lamp-oil had run. Jimmy refused 
to see the use of all this hard work when everything seemed 
as safe as ever it was, and Aleck confessed that he had 
1 no better reason for his precautions than that the weather 
! had changed, and it was best to be on the safe side — in 
> which he showed himself a good commander. 

“ We won’t take the tent down, Jim, nor throw in the 
mess kit, nor roll away our good beds, till we find we have 
, to ; but, if the ice should drop from under our feet at this 
moment, we could scramble into the boat, and have our 
| necessary property with us.” 


/ 


The Ice Queen . 


164 

Katy, meanwhile, had set half a ham boiling — they had 
only one more left after this — and was only waiting for it 
to be done before going to bed, for it was late in the evening, 
and much colder than usual, since the hummock no longer 
sheltered them from this new wind, which blew in under the 
boat where the snow had been shovelled away, and threat- 
ened to tear the frail hut to pieces. Finally the ham was 
done, and the girl crept shivering to Jim’s side amid the 
straw and quilts, thoroughly frightened and weary. 

She had not been there five minutes when there came a 
quick series of crashing reports, such as she had heard be- 
fore. The ice was breaking up again. Tug was quickest 
to jump out, calling to all to stay in the boat till he came 
back. They could feel the ice shake and tip under them — 
or, at any rate, imagined they could — while the wind was 
blowing snow-flakes in their scared faces. It seemed an age, 
though really it was hardly a minute, before Tug came back 
and said they were afloat upon a small piece — a piece only a 
few yards square. 

“ Then,” said Aleck, decisively, “ we must take to the 
boat and get off this cake, for the wind is blowing us right 
back into the open lake, and we couldn’t live out there. I 
think I saw land just north of us, and we must try to reach 
it, or, at any rate, to get upon the big ice-field in front. It’s 
our only hope.” 


The Ice Queen . 


165 

He and Tug were buttoning their overcoats and tying 
tippets about their beads and necks, but talking at the same 
time. 

“ Now for our orders, Captain.” 

“ Well, then, listen. Katy and Jim must not step out of 
the boat unless I say so. They must light the lantern, ship 
the rudder, roll up the bedding and stow it under the thwarts, 
and fix everything as snug as they can. Jim’s place will 
be forward ; Katy will stay by the tiller ; and remember, 
whatever happens, that the compass direction is due north. 
Now, Tug,” he continued, “you and I will throw this kitch- 
en stuff aboard, and let The Youngster pack it away the best 
he can. Then, down with the oars and mast and canvas. 
We must hurry.” 

So saying, he snatched the kettle, ham and all, from the 
fire, and tossed it into the boat, where it lit on Jim’s foot, 
and was greeted with an angry howl. The other goods and 
the spare canvas followed. Then they began to tear down 
the roof, and in five minutes this had been piled in a stiff, 
frozen heap on the bow of the boat, for they thought there 
would be no time to bend and fold it into shape. It was 
all the united efforts of the four could do to hoist it over 
the low gunwale. 

All these preparations took perhaps fifteen minutes — a 
quarter of an hour of terror, for now the great cake was plain- 


The Ice Queen. 


1 66 

ly rocking under their feet. Then calling Jim out of the 
boat to help them, the three put their heads through the 
collars of the drag-ropes, and tried their best to move the 
boat, but it wouldn’t budge an inch. 

“We must throw off that icy canvas. I should think it 
weighs a hundred pounds,” Tug remarked. 

“ Yes, off with it !” ordered Captain Aleck. 

This done, they tried again, and slowly and laboriously 
worked the boat twenty or thirty paces towards the edge of 
the ice, when it became clogged with the fast-falling snow, 
and could be pushed no farther. 


Chapter XX. 

A NIGHT IN AN OPEN BOAT. 

What should be done? Aleck was sure that their only 
chance for life lay in getting the boat afloat ; but unless it 
could be brought nearer the edge this could not be done, 
and perhaps it was impossible, anyway. Yet to stay where 
they were meant destruction. Katy and Jim climbed into 
the boat, and crouched down out of the snow, while the 
larger lads stood outside trying to find some way out of 
their desperate situation. They must think fast ; minutes 
were precious ; but, cudgel their brains as they might, only 
darkness, a howling snow-squall, and crashing blocks of ice 
greeted their eyes or thoughts. One minute passed, two 
minutes passed, yet they could see no way to help them- 
selves. The third minute was slipping by, when a huge 
ice-cake crowded its resistless way underneath the rear 
edge of their own raft, towards which the stern of the boat 
was pointing, and slowly lifted it above the level of the 
water. 

At once the sledge began to feel this inclination, and 
started to move forward. 


The Ice Queen. 


1 68 

“ Jump in !” shouted Aleck, and leaped aboard, with Tug 
beside him. “ Try to steady her !” they heard him cry, and 
each seized an oar, or a boat-hook, or whatever was nearest. 
But it was of little use. Slowly but gently the hinder part 
of the ice-cake rose, and the front part tipped down. As 
the slant deepened, the speed of the sliding boat increased, 
until it went with a rush, and struck the water with a plung- 
ing splash that would surely have swamped them had it not 
been for the tight half-deck forward ; this shed the water, 
and caused the little craft to rise upon an even keel as soon 
as she had fairly left the surface of the ice. It was evident 
in an instant, however, that she would sink in a very short 
time unless freed of the great sledge that was dragging 
upon her bottom. Already the water was pouring over her 
sides, and Aleck knew that they were in imminent danger 
of sinking or capsizing, or both. Tug had leaped in for- 
ward, and to him Aleck shouted, “ Cut those bands !” 

“ Haven’t any knife.” 

“ Here’s the hatchet. Hurry up !” 

One stroke of Tug’s arm parted one of the bands, and he 
raised his hatchet for the second one, for there were two 
straps forward. As it descended, Aleck drew his pocket- 
knife across the strained band astern, which parted with 
a loud ripping noise. The idea was that both straps should 
be severed at the same instant ; but in the darkness Tug 




TRY TO STEADY HER !” 








The Ice Queen . 


171 

partly missed his aim, and the poor boat, held to the sledge 
by a single strap, began to yaw and jerk and ship water in 
a most alarming manner — a strain she could not have borne 
one moment had not the half-cut band of canvas broken, 
setting the boat free. Aleck had intended to hold to the 
strap and take the sledge aboard ; but this struggle, which 
came so near wrecking them all, wrenched it out of his hand, 
and the first wave washed the bobs beyond recovery — a loss 
whose full force did not strike them at once, for they had 
too much else to think of. 

The weight and awkwardness of the sledge having been 
taken away, the boat rode much more lightly in the face of 
the ice-clogged sea, and showed how stanch and trim she 
really was, though much cold water splashed over her rails. 

“ Now,” said Aleck, cheerfully, though it was fortunate 
the darkness could conceal how anxious was the expression 
of his face, “ now we shall get along. Jim, get out your 
oars (the stroke); and look out for floating ice forward, 
Tug. Katy, my little steersman, are you very, very cold ?” 

“N-n-n-o!” the girl answered, bravely, but her teeth 
chattered dreadfully. 

“Better say you are, for you can’t hide it, poor child. 
Wait a minute till I get this strap off my roll of bedding, 
and I will wrap a blanket around you.” 

Doubling a large blanket, he put it carefully over her 


172 


The Ice Queen . 


head and shoulders like an immense hood. Then he buck- 
led around her the strap which had held the roll together, 
leaving only a fold out of which she might grasp the tiller, 
and another crevice through which to peep and breathe. 

“We’ve got to have that lantern lit, because you must 
see the compass.” 

Taking some matches from his pocket, he knelt down, 
placed the lantern under the skirt of Katy’s blanket robe, 
crouched over it as close as he could, and struck a match. 
It went out. A second fizzed a while, which only warmed 
the wicking, but at the third the oil in the wick took fire, 
and the lantern was soon shining gayly into the bright face 
of the compass at Katy’s feet. 

“ Now, Youngster, for the oars. Lie low, and let me 
crawl over you to my seat.” 

Aleck got there and was ready, but Jim was still fum- 
bling about on each side, and feeling under the thwart. 

“ What’s the matter? Why don’t you go to work ?” 

“ Can’t find but one oar.” 

“ Only one oar ? Sure ?” 

Then the two searched, but to no purpose. It had been 
dropped overboard, evidently, during the excitement about 
losing the sledge. 

“Well, Jim, it’s your fault, but it can’t be helped now. 
You take this quilt, and cuddle down as close to Katy as 


The Ice Queen . 173 

you can get, and try to keep each other warm. I’ll row 
alone. Ready, forward ?” 

“ Ay, ay, sir.” 

Then they began to move ahead through the water, which 
came in long rollers, not in breaking waves, because there 
was so much ice around them that the wind could not get 
hold of it. It was very cold. Occasionally Tug would 
fend away a cake of ice, or they would stop and steer clear 
of a big piece ; but pretty soon he called out in a shaky 
voice that he was too stiff to stand there any longer, where 
the spray was blowing over him, and that he should be 
good for nothing in a few minutes unless he could row 
awhile to get warm. So Aleck took his place, fixing the 
spare canvas into a kind of shield to keep off the spattering 
drops. It was very forlorn and miserable, and to say that 
all wished themselves back on shore would be but the faint- 
est expression of their distress. 

Little was said. Pushing their way slowly through the 
cakes of ice, which had grown denser now ; changing every 
little while from oars to boat-hook and back again, while 
Katy, protected from freezing by her double blanket and 
Jim’s close hugging, kept the yawl’s head due north ; fight- 
ing fatigue, hunger, cold, and a great desire to sleep, these 
brave boys worked hour after hour for their lives and the 
lives in their care. 


174 


The Ice Queen . 


When they were beginning to think it almost morning 
they came squarely against a field of ice which stretched 
right and left into the darkness farther than it was possible 
to see. Whether this was the edge of a stationary field or 
only a large raft they couldn’t tell ; but they were too ex- 
hausted to go farther, and they decided to tie up and wait 
for daylight. Tug struck his hook into the ice until it held 
firmly, then lashed it to the bow. Aleck also stepped out 
and drove one of the short railway spikes into the ice near 
the stern, around which a rope was hitched. Then both 
the boys opened a second roll of bedding, and snuggled 
down as well as they could to get what rest they were able 
to while waiting for sunrise. Crowded together in the 
straw (though it was damp with snow), and covered with 
quilts and blankets, they could keep tolerably warm, and 
even caught little naps. The snow had stopped now, and 
the stars began to appear, first in the north, then overhead, 
then gradually everywhere. The wind still blew, but the 
boat rose and fell more and more slowly upon the rollers, 
until at last it stood perfectly still. This happened so sud- 
denly, and was followed by so complete steadiness, that it 
aroused Tug’s curiosity. Poking his head from under the 
covering, he said, “ I think we are frozen in.” Nobody an- 
swered him, for they were asleep, or too stupid to care ; but 
the gray daylight which came at last showed that he was 


The Ice Queen . 


175 


right. On their right hand was a great sheet of new, thin 
ice ; on their left a mass of thick old ice, white with snow. 
Straight ahead, so well had Katy steered, towered the 
rocks and trees of a high, wooded shore, coming momently 
into greater and greater distinctness as the red streamers of 
the morning shot higher and higher into the eastern sky. 

Tug was the first to catch this sight, and roused his fel- 
lows with a shout : 

“ Land ! — land ! Hurrah 1” 


Chapter XXI. 

THE ESCAPE TO THE SHORE. 

To rouse themselves, hastily gather a few eatables, and 
make their way ashore had been the work of a very short 
time, though done with great soreness and much hobbling, 
after their cramped-up night in the boat. 

They halted on the south side of a sheltering rock, where 
the sun was beginning to shine against the gray stone. 
Katy hated to confess it, but really she was very, very tired, 
and was quite willing to let Aleck wrap her up in a thick 
blanket, and to lie quietly in a sunny nook of the rock while 
the boys set a fire crackling as near to her as was safe, and 
began to heat water for coffee. The mill had been for- 
gotten, but Tug had a piece of buckskin. in his overcoat 
pocket, and folding the grains in this they crushed them be- 
tween two stones, which did just as well as grinding them. 

This done, the coffee-pot was filled and set upon the em- 
bers, and a moment later four cups were steaming with the hot, 
reviving liquid, and four tired hands were reaching towards 
the little heap of slices cut from the boiled ham which had 
been tossed into the boat the night before, when leaving the 


The Ice Queen . 


177 


ice-raft. It had required all of Rex’s strength of mind to 
keep his paws off these tempting pieces for some time past. 

“Poor dogl-’^crie^ dim “we must give you something, 
if we are pretty shor$* Pity there was no fish left for you.” 

“ He can have my slice of ham,” Katy said, with a faint 
smile. “ I can’t eat it, somehow.” 

“ Better try to eat a little, sis,” Aleck said, “ because — ” 

“ Don’t you touch a mouthful !” exclaimed Tug, snatch- 
ing the shaving from her hand and tossing it to the dog, 
which swallowed it at a gulp. “Just you wait a minute! 
I ought to go and kick myself for not thinking of it before !” 
And with this puzzling remark he rushed off over the ice. 

They saw him rummage about the cargo, and then start 
back, bringing his gun and a small package. 

“ Thought it would be just as well to make sure of the 
gun,” he remarked, as he rejoined them ; “and here’s some- 
thing, Katy, you can eat, I guess !” It was a box containing 
two dozen preserved figs that he opened, and handed to her. 
“ I bought ’em just before we left Monore,” he said, “ and 
clean forgot ’em till now — sure as I’m a Dutchman !” 

“ Oh, give me one !” cried Jim. 

“ Jim Kincaid,” said Tug, sternly, springing between the 
boy and Katy’s hand, outstretched in generosity, “if you 
touch one of those figs I’ll thump you well ! I didn’t 
bring them all this way for a lubber like you to eat !” And 

12 


i ;8 


The Ice Queen . 


in spite of all the girl’s protests, Tng would not touch a fig 
himself nor allow her to give one to anybody else. 

Aleck grinned, and munched his tough morsel; Jim 
scowled, and gnawed at his shavings as though he enjoyed 
viciously tearing them into shreds; Tug thought his beef 
was juicy and sweet, as he saw with what gusto poor Katy 
ate her fruit ; and as for Eex, he dug his teeth into the 
tough remnant of the dried shank which had been given to 
him, as though he never expected to see another meal. 

Refreshed and strengthened by their breakfast, meagre as 
it was, the boys prepared to begin the work of bringing the 
cargo ashore, though the weather was so cold that a ther- 
mometer would have marked nearly down to zero. 

Aleck forbade Katy to help, so she curled up beside the 
wall of rock, which acted as a sort of oven to hold the 
warmth, where presently she fell asleep, and the boys, when 
they returned with their first sled-load of goods, were care- 
ful not to awaken her. So much had their stock been re- 
duced that they found a second trip would enable them to 
bring everything of consequence ashore by carrying pretty 
large armfuls. They therefore distributed their loads as 
best they could, and started back from the abandoned boat, 
slipping and stumbling over the rough ice and through the 
cutting wind. 


Chapter XXII. 

REX FIGHTS UNKNOWN ENEMIES. 

With aching heads bowed under their burdens, and tired 
limbs, they had returned to within, perhaps, a hundred 
yards of the beach, when the barking of dogs, mingled with 
a girlish scream, caused them all to look up in astonishment. 
Then, without waiting for any one to give the word, each 
dropped what he was carrying, and began to run as fast as 
he was able over the broken ice towards the shore. 

When the lads had started on the second trip out to the 
boat, Rex, bidden to watch his mistress, and proud of the 
duty, had lain down almost on the edge of her blankets. 
There was no snow upon the sand here, and the warmth of 
the fire closed the eyes of the fagged-out dog, just as it had 
those of his mistress. The boys had been gone, perhaps, 
half an hour, and he had had time to get very soundly 
asleep, when, suddenly, he was roused by a growl and a 
rush, and before he could rise to his feet two animals were 
right upon him, each nearly as big as himself, though short- 
haired and wofully gaunt. With a yelp of surprise and 
rage the dog sprang up and tried to defend himself, but the 


i8o 


The Ice Queen. 


attack of his assailants was so fierce that he was rolled over 
in an instant, and felt their teeth pressing at his throat. 

Into Katy’s dreams of a May-day picnic under the blos- 
soming apple-trees broke this rude hubbub, and before she 
could understand its meaning she felt the weight of the 
struggling animals pressing upon her bed. With the pierc- 
ing scream of fright that had reached the ears of her broth- 
ers out on the ice, she struggled out of her blankets, only to 
be tripped and fall right upon the tumbling, growling, 
fighting heap. Afterwards she used to tell the story with 
merry laughter, but then, scarcely knowing what it all 
meant, she was too frightened to do anything but scream 
again, and pick herself up as best she could. 

Safely on her feet at last, and convinced that this start- 
ling adventure was a reality and not some frightful change 
in her dream, she saw that Rex was being overpowered by 
two. great dogs, lean almost as skeletons, that seemed bent 
upon killing him without an instant’s delay. To see her 
faithful friend surprised and overcome in this terrible way 
stirred up all her sympathies and all her wrath. Like a 
flash she remembered how African travellers had fought 
lions with firebrands, and, seizing one of the charred sticks 
from the fire, she began to strike the brute nearest to her. 

But what followed w T as most alarming, for the animal, at 
the very first blow, left Rex and turned towards her, his 


The Ice Queen . 


181 


jaws wide open, and his haggard eyes glowing with rage. 
Instinctively she presented the smoking end of her long 
brand, as a soldier would his bayonet, and was fortunate 
enough to meet the dog squarely in the face, which stag- 
gered him for an instant, and before he could gather him- 
self for a new attack Aleck and Tug and Jim were all be- 
side her, and the two great brutes were in full flight 

Then the brave girl dropped her firebrand, and sank 
down on the nearest seat, where, perhaps, she might have 
been excused for fainting had the day been warm, instead 
of freezing cold. The boys gathered anxiously about her, 
with such questions as, “ Where did they come from ?” 
“ Why did they attack you ?” “ Are you hurt ?” and so on. 

The story was soon told, and this was fortunate, for every- 
body had forgotten poor Rex, who lay panting, and licking 
one of his feet, from which the blood was oozing. 

“Well, old fellow,” exclaimed Tug, as he went and bent 
over the dog, “ did they try to chew you up ? Here, give 
us your paw. Quiet! Let me feel — so — good dog! Ho 
bones broken, I guess, and we’ll bandage you up O. K. 
How about this ear? One hole through it, and — Well, 
’twas lucky you had a strong collar? Just look at the 
tooth-marks on that piece of leather ! If it hadn’t been for 
that an’ his thick hair, they’d been in his throat, and then 
good-bye, Rex !” 


Chapter XXIII. 

EXPLORING THE ISLAND. 


When all the property of our shipwrecked crew had been 
brought ashore it made a very small heap, and the biggest 
part of that seemed to be the bedding. Everybody noticed 
this, and it added a new gloom to the feeling of discour- 
agement caused by their weariness, by Katy’s fright, and, 
most of all, by the hunger of which their slight breakfast 
had only taken away the edge. 

“ Before we do anything else at all, 5 ’ said Captain Aleck, 
“ we must have something more to eat. Do you feel strong 
enough to help us, Katy ?” 

“ Oh, yes, indeed. I’ve got quite rid of my foolish weak- 
ness.” 

“ That’s good. Let us know if we can help you.” 

Nobody felt in the mood for talking, and Jim really took 
a nap between the rock and the fire. Though the air was 
still cold, the sunshine was bright, and under the lee of the 
little cliff it was very comfortable ; but poor Katy had hard 
w r ork to keep her fingers from almost freezing. What she 
made was chocolate, fried bacon, and “griddle” cakes, the 


The Ice Queen . 


183 


last cooked in the skillet, and consuming every bit of buck- 
wheat flour and a good share of the sugar. When the 
meal had been eaten to the last scrap, and everybody had 
grown wide awake and cheerful, Aleck rapped on a box, 
and made a speech : 

“ Attention, ladies and gentlemen ! Though none of us 
have said much about it, you all know well enough that 
we’re in a regular scrape, and the sooner we discover how 
we’re to get out of it the better. Now, I am going to pro- 
pose a plan, and if any of you don’t like it you can say so.” 

“We’ll do whatever you say,” exclaimed Tug. 

“But I don’t want to say till we’ve talked it over. I 
rather think we’re on a small island a good many miles from 
land. I judge so from what I know of the chart of the 
lake, and what I can guess of where we drifted on that ice- 
floe. If so, I do not think anybody lives here, or ever comes 
here in winter.” 

“Regular desert island!” Jim was heard to mutter, in a 
tone that showed his mind busy with the romantic memory 
of Robinson Crusoe. 

“ The first thing to do is to find out whether this is so 
or not. Now I propose that Jim and Katy should stay 
here — ” 

“Oh, no, no,” Katy interrupted, in an eager appeal. 
“ Those dreadful dogs might come back, and Jimmy is so 


184 The Ice Queen. 

little ! I want you to stay with me, or else let me go with 
you.” 

“ That’s rather rough on the boy,” Aleck laughed. “ How- 
ever, I suppose it won’t matter. Well, then, Tug, I think 
you and Jim had better go back in the country, and see 
what you can find, while I stay and watch over the goods 
and the sister. What do you say ?” 

“Good plan,” Tug replied. “I’m ready. Are you, 
Youngster ?” 

“ Yes, siree ! But you’ll let us take the gun, won’t you, 
Aleck ?” 

“ Oh, yes, you can have the gun. If the dogs, or wolves, 
or whatever they are, come at us while you’re gone, Katy 
can fight them with firebrands, and I — ” 

“ Oh, you can climb a tree !” said his sister, merrily. 

“ Yes, I can climb a tree.” 

While Tug and Jim were gone, Aleck and Katy busied 
themselves in repacking their goods in snug bundles, and 
in talking over their strange adventures. They were too 
anxious to feel very gay, but thought it foolish to give way 
to fretting until they had lost all hope. Two hours or more 
elapsed, and the sun had climbed to “ high noon ” in the 
sky, before the explorers came back, bringing solemn faces. 

“ Island !” both called out as soon as they came near ; 
“ and a small one at that.” 


The Ice Queen. 


185 


“ Any people on it ?” asked Katy. 

“Not a soul that I could see,” Tug said. “ I allow they 
come here in summer, though, for the trees have been cut 
down, and there’s a rough little shanty on the other side.” 

“ Could we live in it?” 

“Didn’t go inside; don’t know. It’s half full of snow. 
Better than no shelter at all, I suppose. It ain’t far off. 
Suppose you all go over there and look at it — Jim can show 
you where it is — while I guard the grub against those 
pesky dogs. I don’t wonder the brutes are savage, for I 
don’t see how they could get anything to eat here.” 

When the three had left the rocks at the beach, under 
Jim’s guidance, they found themselves in a brushy wood 
consisting largely of hemlocks and pines, often closely mat- 
ted together. A few minutes’ walking carried them through 
this and up to a ridge of jagged limestone rocks, one point 
of which, a little distance off, stood up like a big monument. 
This ridge ran about east and west, and they had come up 
its southern side. Its northern face was very snowy, had 
few trees, and sloped down an eighth of a mile to the water. 

At one place on this northern beach several great rocks 
rose from the water’s edge, and among them stood a small 
grove of hemlocks and other trees. In that thicket, Jim- 
my told them, the old shanty was placed. They thought 
it must be very small, or else well stowed away, for they 


The Ice Queen . 


1 86 

could see nothing of it. To get down to it was no easy 
task, for the crevices and holes in the rocky hillside had 
drifted full of snow, and they were continually sinking in 
where they had expected to stand firm, or finding a solid 
rock ahead when they tried to flounder out. It was a chilled 
and ill - tempered trio that finally reached the beach, and 
sought the shelter of the thicket. 

How it became easier to understand why the hut had 
been invisible from above, for it was only a shanty propped 
up between two great rocks that helped to form its walls 
and support its roof. From the broken oars and many 
fragments of nets, the old corks and other rubbish lying 
about, they saw at once that it had been built by fishermen, 
who probably came there to spend the night now and then, 
or, perhaps, stayed a week or so at a time in the summer. 

The door stood half open, and a snowdrift lay heaped 
upon the threshold. Edging their way in, they found that 
the roof and walls were tight, the little window unbroken, 
and several rough articles of furniture lying about. An 
old, rusty stove, one corner propped up on stones, and the 
pipe tumbled down, stood against the chimney of mud and 
sticks that was built up against one of the rocky walls. 

“ This is splendid 1” Katy cried. “ Just look at that dear 
old stove !” 

“ Yes, sis ; I think we must move over here. But are you 



THE CABIN ON THE ISLAND. 






The Ice Queen. 189 

sure, Jim — how did you find out ? — that this is an island, 
and not the mainland ?” 

“ From the top of that high point of rocks you can see 
the whole of it. I don’t believe it is more than a mile up 
to the farther end, and not half that down to the other. 
The island is shaped something like a dumb-bell, only one 
end is a good deal bigger than the other. We are on the 
little end here.” 

“ Well, Youngster, you’re quite a geographer; but we 
can’t stop to talk about it now. Let’s go back as quickly as 
we can, and bring part of our goods over this afternoon ; 
don’t you think that’s best?” 

“ Oh, yes.” And twenty minutes later, rosy and panting, 
Katy astonished the sleepy Tug by rushing into camp, fol- 
lowed closely, not by wild beasts, as he thought would be 
the case, but by both the brothers she had outsped. 

“ It’s so good !” she exclaimed, catching her breath, “ to 
feel something besides slippery ice under your feet ! Now, 
what shall we take first ?” 

By hard work and little resting the coming of twilight 
found them established in their new home. The last jour- 
ney had been made after the bedding, by Tug and Aleck, 
while Jim and Katy cleared the snow all away from the 
cabin door and off the bending roof, straightened up the 
rickety old stove, and set a fire going. By the time the 


190 


The Ice Queen . 


larger boys came back, raising a whoop far up the hillside 
as they saw the smoke curling up between the hemlocks, 
the old hut was warm, and the tin cover of the little iron 
pot was dancing, in its effort to hold back the escaping 
steam. 

“ Ugh !” said Tug, as he pushed the door open and threw 
down his bundle of blankets ; “ I’m as hungry as a wolf !” 

“ If you think you can wait fifteen minutes, Mr. Mont- 
gomery, you’ll have a bee-yutiful supper. Can you do it ?” 

“ I ’low I can. I ain’t a epi — epi — What d’ye call it 2” 

“ Epicure ?” 

“ That’s the chap. I read the other day that the Tartars 
say he digs his grave with his teeth. I don’t want a grave 
as bad as that yet.” 

“ I suppose that means that a man who lives on too rich 
food will die by it.” 

“ Yes, I reckon so. But I ’low there’s no danger in our 
case ; eh, Aleck ? Do you think dried beef and snow-birds 
too rich for your delicate stomach, my boy ?” 

That night all bunked down on the floor, for they were 
too weary to care much for anything but a chance to sleep, 
and the sun was high before any of them found out, in their 
shady house, that it was morning. When breakfast was 
ready, and they had all sat down at the rough shelf-table 


The Ice Queen . 


191 

which the fishermen had fastened at one side of the cabin, 
Aleck called “ Attention !” and said that it was time they 
were looking the situation squarely in the face. 

“ It’s all very funny,” he said, “ to think ourselves Cru- 
soes, and feel that we are all right because we have a roof 
over us and a stove to keep warm by. But Crusoe didn’t 
need a roof nor a stove, for he was in a warm climate; and 
he had goats and birds, and shell-fish along the rocks, and 
cocoanuts, and lots of other things. Crusoe was a king in 
his palace beside us.” 

The circle of faces grew rather grave. 

“ Here we are, in midwinter, on an island in a fresh-water 
lake — and not even water, but solid ice — where there are no 
oysters nor clams, no fruit-trees, and no animals — ” 

“ Except those dogs,” Jim interrupted. 

“ Even they seem to have disappeared,” Aleck went on ; 
“and they are starved almost to skin and bone. If a pack 
of dogs can’t get anything to eat, what are we four going 
to do ? I tell you, it’s a serious case.” 

“ Well,” Tug rejoined, stoutly, “ I, for one, don’t give in 
yet. Look what we did out on the ice! We can fish, and 
trap snow-birds — I saw a flock last evening ; and maybe we 
can find some mussels near the beach, and so stick it out till 
the ice breaks up and the birds begin to come in the spring.” 

“ Tug, you’re a brick, and I was wrong to feel so low- 


192 


The Ice "Queen. 


spirited,” said Aleck, heartily. “I think you’re a better 
fellow to be captain here than lam. I resign.” 

“ Not by a long chalk !” exclaimed Tug. “ Here, I’ll put 
it to vote. Whoever wants Aieck to go out, and me to take 
my innings as captain, hold up his hand.” 

1 


Chapter XXIV. 

THE WILD DOGS AGAIN. 

Aleck’s hand alone was shown ; and though he held 
both of his arms as high as he could, the other side had the 
majority, and would not accept his resignation. 

^ Suppose we see just exactly what we have in the way 
of provisions,” Katy suggested. “ It won’t take long to 
make out the list,” she added, with a grim little smile. 

They began at once, and the small housewife wrote down 
the list as fast as the stores were examined, guessing at the 
weights. There were found about eleven pounds of dried 
beef ; bacon, one “ side flour, about six pounds ; corn- 
meal, ten pounds; beans, three pounds ; coffee, two pounds ; 
tea, a quarter of a pound ; chocolate, half a cake ; sugar, 
three pounds ; small quantities of salt, pepper, soda, and so 
on ; some crumbs of crackers and cookies in the bottom of 
a bag ; a small piece of dried yeast ; and a few swallows of 
the brandy that had been so useful at the time of Aleck’s 
accident on the drifting ice. 

They had nearly all the bedding, cooking utensils, and 
tools with which they had started three weeks before ; but 

13 


194 


The Ice Queen . 


the oil for their lantern and their matches were nearly used 
up or lost ; their powder was low, for part of it had been 
spoiled by water ; their clothes were badly worn ; and their 
only canvas, since the loss of their tent, was the small 
“ spare piece.” 

“ It’s plain,” said Aleck, as this overhauling was finished, 
“ that we must put ourselves upon a regular allowance. 
The provisions won’t last us a week unless we save them 
carefully.” 

“And it’s plain that we must raise some more, so I 
reckon I’d better get to work at bird-traps.” 

“ Yes, the sooner the better. As for me, I want to learn 
all I can about the island. There may be something of 
use to us at the other end, so I shall take a long walk, and 
see what I can find.” 

“ Mayn’t I go with you ?” Jim asked, eagerly. 

“Yes, Youngster, if you think you can stand it.” 

“No trouble about that,” replied the little fellow, cour- 
ageously. He had grown very manly during the past 
month. 

The brothers started off, taking the gun with them, and 
saying that they would be back about three o’clock. 

As soon as they had gone Tug set about his traps in one 
corner of the house, behind the stove, while Katy went to 
work to make the hut a little more homelike. 


The Ice Queen. 


195 


The cabin was about twelve feet square, and one side was 
the smooth face of a great rock, against which was heaped 
the rude chimney of mud and stones. In front of this the 
stove was placed, and behind it, on the side of the room 
farthest from the door, the fishermen had built a bunk. 

“You must, call that your bedroom,” Tug said, and he 
helped Katy to set up in front of it poles sustaining a cur- 
tain made of a shawl. 

“Now,” said the lad, when this had been arranged, “you 
must have a mattress.” 

So, taking the axe, he went out, and soon came back with 
a great armful of hemlock boughs, and then a second one, 
with which he heaped the bunk, laying them all very 
smoothly, and making a delightful bed. 

“I’m thinkin’ we’ll have to fix some more bunks for 
ourselves,” said the boy, as he tried this springy couch. 
“ That’s a heap better ’n the soft side of a plank.” 

Then with a hemlock broom Katy swept the floor, and 
spread down the canvas as a carpet. Finding in her little 
trunk some clothing wrapped in an old Harper's Weeldy, 
she cut out the pictures and tacked them up, and finally 
she washed the grimy window to let more light in, so that 
the rough little house soon came to look quite warm and 
cosey. 

Meanwhile Tug, getting out his few tools, had made the 


196 


The Ice Queen * 


triggers of half a dozen such box-traps as they had caught 
snow-birds with when living on the ice, and one other queer 
little arrangement, of sticks delicately balanced, an upright 
one in the middle bearing at its top a bit of red rag : 

“ What in the world is that f” Katy inquired with much 
curiosity. 

“ Oh, it’s a bit of a contrivance to stand over a hole in the 
ice where I propose to place a ‘ set ’ line for fish — that is, 
you know, a line that I bait and leave set for a while, trust- 
ing to luck to catch something. The minute a fish gets the 
hook through his lips and begins to flop around, he will set 
this flag a-fluttering and so let me know it. I might make 
him ring a little bell if I had one.” 

“ I should say,” Katy remarked laughingly, “ that to make 
a captured and dying fish ring his own funeral knell was 
adding insult to injury.” 

At length Tug pulled on his overcoat and announced that 
he was going to look for a good fishing-place. 

He was gone nearly an hour, during which Katy busied 
herself in mending her sadly torn dress, and in thinking. 
But the latter was by no means a pleasant occupation, and 
she was glad to see Tug come back, rubbing his ears, for the 
day was a cold one. 

“I think I have found a real likely place for fishing,” 
he told her. “ There is a little cove the other side of this 


The Ice Queen . 


197 


thicket, with a marsh around it, and a pretty narrow en- 
trance. I reckon the water’s deep enough in there for fish 
to be skulking, and I dropped my line right in the middle. 
I set the traps near here, but didn’t see any birds.” 

“ Do you think — ” Katy stopped suddenly, laying one 
hand on Tug’s arm, and holding up the other warningly, 
while her face grew pale. Rex, who had been lying by 
the stove quietly licking his injured paw, rose up and 
growled deeply. 

“ There ! Did you not hear it ?” 

“I did. It’s them pesky dogs,” cried Tug, and hurried 
to the window, while Rex began to bark furiously. “ There 
are the boys on the hill backing down, and two — no, three 
— dogs following them. Where’s that axe \ I’ll fix ’em !” 

And before Katy could quite understand what was the 
matter, the boy had burst out, and was tearing up the hill 
to the support of his friends. Rex wanted to go too, but 
Katy held him fast, as she stood watching the boys flourish- 
ing their weapons, and frightening the dogs back, while 
they slowly retreated. As they came nearer to the house 
the animals ceased pursuing, and relieved their disappoint- 
ment by savage barks and prolonged howls. 

“Well,” exclaimed Tug, in the country speech he always 
used when excited, “ I allow them curs are the most or’nary 
critters I ever see !” 


198 


The Ice Queen . 


“They followed us all the way from the other side of 
the neck,” said Jim, dropping limp into a broken-legged 
chair, which tumbled him over backward. 

“ Where did you go, and what did you see ?” was Katy’s 
anxious question, choking down her laughter at the plain- 
tive Youngster’s accident. 

Aleck then told them that from the highest point of the 
hill he could study the whole island, which was everywhere 
surrounded by ice, and that eastward he could see what he 
thought was another island several miles away ; but that to 
the southward it was too misty for a long sight. Going on 
down the hill, they crossed a neck or isthmus of sand and 
rocks between two marshy bays, and entered some woods, 
which seemed to cover pretty much all the rest of the 
island. Pushing through this, and gathering a good many 
dried grapes, which were worth a hungry man’s attention if 
he had plenty of time, they reached the shore somewhere 
near the farther end of the island without finding any signs 
that anybody had ever been there before. On the shore, 
however, by a cove, they found a tumbled-down shanty, and 
a little clearing where once had been a camp. They were 
going on still farther, when suddenly they were attacked 
by the three dogs, and thought it best to retreat. The dogs 
followed, and they had to fight them off all the way. 

“One of them was a giant of a mastiff,” said Aleck, 



ATTACKED BY THE DOGS 



























































I 


r 





































The Ice Queen . 


201 


“ and we were more afraid of him than of the smaller ones, 
which seemed to be two well-grown pups. I think these 
dogs must have been left here last summer by somebody. 
There seems to be four of them altogether — two old ones 
and two young ones — though we have never seen more than 
three at once. How they have managed to live beats me. 
I don’t see anything for them to eat. I wish you had some 
bullets, Tug. We never can hurt ’em much with small 
shot.” 

“ They’ll steal everything from the traps, too,” Jim piped 
in. “By the way, Tug, have you set any yet?” 

Then Tug told what he had been doing, and said he must 
go before it became dark and see if anything had been 
taken. So, wrapping himself up, he took the gun and went 
off, while Aleck and Jim gathered a supply of wood for 
the night, and Katy began to get supper. By the time this 
was ready, and the red glare of a threatening sunset had 
tinged the snow and suffused the clouds with crimson, Tug 
came back, bringing nothing at all. It was not a very 
merry party, therefore, that sat around the table that even- 
ing listening to the doleful cries of the outcast dogs, which 
still kept watch on the hillside. 


Chapter XXY. 

THE PERILS OF A MIDNIGHT SEARCH. 

The next morning snow was falling, and the wind was 
blowing furiously. 

“ This ought to bring us some small birds, and maybe an 
owl or two,” said Tug, as he watched the dense clouds of 
snow hurled along from the northern waste of ice. 

“ Do you think you would dare to go out to the traps, or 
could find them in this gale ?” Aleck asked. 

“ I reckon so ; and while I’m gone you take the gun and 
see if you can’t find snow-birds among the hemlocks.” 

“ What’ll you do if those dogs get after you ? They’re 
perfectly savage with hunger. It don’t take much wildness 
or long famine to turn a dog back to a wolf, and we’ve got 
to look out for these curs as if they were wild beasts.” 

“You’re right,” Tug assented. “But I hardly think 
they’ll be out on the ice in this storm ; you are more likely 
to meet them in the woods. At any rate, we must have 
something to eat, and it’s my business to tend those traps, 
wolves or no wolves. If I go under, why, there’s one less 
mouth to feed.” 


The Ice Queen . 


203 


So Tug and Aleck went away into the storm, one out 
upon the wide white desert, the other wading up the drifted 
slopes to the woods. 

Katy and Jim stayed at home, sitting comfortably in the 
house. She was reading aloud from an old newspaper they 
had found lying in a corner, when there came plainly to 
her ears the twittering of small birds. 

“ Listen, Jimkin. Did you hear that f” 

“ Snow-birds !” the boy exclaimed. “ Right on the roof, 
too, and nary a trap !” 

“ Let us go out,” said Katy, eagerly. “ Perhaps we could 
catch one or two somehow.” 

So they crept out, and saw that the thick hemlock grow- 
ing beside the big rock was covered with small birds. 
Some were hiding away from the “cauld blast” in the 
nooks between the dense branches; some were hanging 
upon the little cones, swinging and clinging like acrobats; 
some were taking short flights through the smoke to warm 
their toes, or sitting on the bare rock near the top of the 
chimney. They were of two kinds, but all equally happy 
and unconcerned. 

“ If I only had the gun I could knock over about twenty 
at once,” Jim whispered. “I believe I could even kill a 
lot with my pea-shooter.” 

“ Could you ? Well, Jimkin, I’ve got some strong rub- 


204 


The Ice Queen. 


ber cord in my trunk, and you might make one of those 
horrid forked-stick things.” 

“ That’s a splendid idea, Katy. Get your rubber, and I’ll 
cut a stick. Hurry up 1” 

Ten minutes afterwards the weapon was ready. But now 
it occurred to Jim that he had no “ peas” for his “ shooter.” 

So he and Katy both hurried down to where they knew 
there was a bit of beach not covered by ice. They scraped 
away the new snow, and raked up double handfuls of small 
pebbles. 

Jim’s hands grew so cold during this operation that he 
had to go in and warm them before he could handle his 
“ rubber gun.” But the birds still stayed in the trees, as is 
their custom when a heavy snow-storm is raging, and the 
excited young hunter waited only long enough to get the 
stiffest of his fingers into decent shape. 

Creeping around to the rear side of the rock, he climbed 
slowly up until he could peer over the edge, and found 
himself not more than a dozen feet away from the little • 
feathered group sitting by the chimney-top. Taking the 
best of aim, and pulling the rubber as far back as it would 
go, he let fly, and one of the largest of the birds tumbled 
over the edge. The boy had hard work to refrain from 
shouting with pride at this early success, though he wasn’t 
sure he had killed the bird. 


Chapter XXVI. 

FINDING SNOW-BIRDS AND LOSING THE CAPTAIN. 

Jim knew he must keep quiet, so he stood like a statue, 
trying to forget his stinging ears, until the flock had recov- 
ered from its surprise, when he knocked over a second bird. 

It was slow and very cold work, but the boy stuck to it 
bravely until his fingers became so stiff that he could not 
manage his little weapon, and then he crept down to the 
stove, to dance about and wring his hands with pain as the 
heat of the room set them aching. 

As soon as possible he went out again — missed twice and 
hit once. Just as he was taking aim a fourth time his foot 
slipped, and he tumbled backwards, followed by a small ava- 
lanche, which half buried him at the foot of the rock. When 
he picked himself up, every feather had disappeared. 

Running round to the front, he found two dead birds and 
three wounded ones, whose necks were speedily wrung. 
Never was a boy prouder than this young sportsman, as he 
laid his trophies in a row and admired them. 

“What a delicious broth they will make!” cried Katy, 
who longed to taste something really good. 


206 


The Ice Queen. 


“ I’m hungry enough to eat ’em raw, like an Indian. Oh, 
Tug, look what I’ve shot !” Jim added, as his friend opened 
the door and stood shaking off the snow. 

“ Good for you ! I’ve got nothin’ ’cept a mighty good 
appetite. Why, they’re cross-bills and red-polls !” 

“ What are they f ” 

“ Birds that come down in winter from away up north. 
This little streaked sparrow-like fellow, with the rosy breast 
and the red cap, is the red-poll ; they say he never breeds 
south of Greenland. How look at these larger ones — see how 
strong the bills are, and how their points cross ! That’s so 
they can twist the hard scales off the cones and get at the 
seeds.” 

“Yes,” said Jim; “they were hanging upside down and 
every way on the cones, and I could hardly see them to 
take aim.” 

“ That’s ’cause their plumage is such a vague sort of red 
and green, so near the color of the leaves and scales on those 
evergreen trees. The hawks and owls can’t see ’em, either, 
half as well as if they were bright, and that’s where the lit- 
tle fellows have the advantage of their big enemies. Did 
you notice any other kinds ?” 

“ There was one different one, a little larger than any of 
these, that I caught a glimpse of — it was green, just like the 
hemlock leaves, and kept inside out of the storm — ” 


The Ice Queen . 207 

“ Like a sensible bird, eh ? Correct ! I guess he was a 
pine grosbeak.” 

“ That means 4 pine J^beak ’ doesn’t it ? It ought to, for 
this fellow had a beak twice as thick as any bird I ever saw, 
except a cardinal from South Carolina that a man had in a 
cage last summer. Do you think they’ll come back ?” 

“ I reckon so. None of these winter birds are shy — lucky 
for us ! and I think the shelter of these trees and the warmth 
of our smoke will fetch ’em, especially if we scatter some 
crumbs out on the roof.” 

“ But we have none to scatter,” Katy protested. 

All three then went to work picking the birds, whose 
bodies looked surprisingly small after their puffy coats had 
been taken off. “See what a warm undershirt of down 
this one wears at the roots of his feathers !” Tug pointed 
out, holding up a red-poll. 

“ Wish I were a bird,” said Jimmy ; “ I’d get out 0’ this 
in no time.” 

“ Perhaps if you were, this would be the very place you 
would most want to come to and stay in,” Katy remarked, 
“just as these poor little things did. The c if ’ makes a lot 
of difference, Master Jim.” 

By this time it began to grow dusk, and though the snow 
was falling as fast as ever, the air had grown much warmer, 
as though the storm would end in rain. Aleck had not 


208 


The Ice Queen . 


come jet, and the three, in their snug house, looking out 
upon the deep drifts and the clouded air, and listening to 
the melancholy sound of the wind in the trees, became more 
and more anxious for his appearance. 

When it had grown quite dark, and the broth Katy had 
made was ready, together with cakes of corn-meal, and tea, 
or, rather, hot water flavored with tea and sugar — the best 
meal they had seen for many a day — Tug said that if the 
Captain did not come before they got through eating he 
would go and look for him. So they tried to keep up each 
other’s spirits ; but when the meal was done, and still no 
brother appeared, all their merriment faded. 

“ Jim and Rex ought both to go with you, Tug ; and you 
must take along the lantern, and these extra corn cakes I 
have baked, and some bacon — ” 

“ The bacon’s raw,” Jim protested. 

“Well, stupid, you could fry it over some coals on the 
end of a stick, couldn’t you?” exclaimed Tug, impatient- 
ly. He was getting very tired of Jim’s constant objec- 
tions. 

“ And you must take this little bit of brandy, because you 
know, he might — might be — ” 

“ Now, Katy, dear Katy,” said Tug, his owrn eyes moist, as 
he threw his arm around the shoulders of the girl, who had 
broken down at last, and was crying bitterly. “ Don’t cry, 




















































































* * 











































































The Ice Queen . 


2 I I 


Katy. If you give in, what are we goin’ to do? You are 
the life of the party, and there ain’t nothin’ we wouldn’t 
any of us — and specially me — do for you. Really now, 
Katy — Here, you young cub, what are you bellerin’ about ? 
If I catch you crying round here again, discouragin’ your 
sister in this style, I’ll thrash you well !” 

Tug was thoroughly excited and distressed by this last 
and heaviest trouble, and most anxious of all to make the 
rest believe he wasn’t anxious. As usual, when excited, he 
dropped into the slang he had been striving to forget. But 
this added force to his speeches, for when it occurred every- 
body understood that he was very much in earnest. 

“ I knew a young fellow,” Tug himself used to say, when 
laughed at for this peculiarity, “ whose father was a Dutch- 
man, but who could never be persuaded to learn that lan- 
guage. ‘Why not?’ we used to ask him. ‘Well, fellows,’ 
he would say, ‘ my daddy talks English till he catches me up 
to some mischief ; then he begins to talk Dutch, and goes 
for his whip ; so I’ve got a terrible distaste for Dutch.’ It’s 
with me as it was with that man. When I am mad, or 
mean business, I’m pretty likely to talk in the ‘Dutch’ I 
learned when I was a boy.” 

The two boys and the dog — for Hex had nursed his foot 
until it was of use to him again, protected by bandages — 
bundled themselves up, took the lantern, the hatchet, and 


212 


The Ice Queen . 


luncheon, and started out. Katy said she should not be a bit 
afraid, and would keep up a good fire. As they disappeared, 
letting in a flurry of snow before they could shut the door, 
she dropped into a seat (if truth must be told) to finish her 
crying. Let her do it, poor girl ! — few of her associates, or 
yours, my pretty maiden, ever had better cause. We will 
flounder along with Tug and Jim, who are bowing their faces 
to the storm, and toiling up the dark and treacherous hill- 
side. 

When the top of the ridge had been gained they paused 
to get breath and to shout Aleck’s name. No reply came, 
and they pushed on down to the isthmus, where the snow, 
which was becoming more and more sleety, swept about 
their faces with double force. In a few moments, however, 
they reached the shelter of the woods, which covered pret- 
ty much the whole of that part of the island ; and then 
came the question whether it would be better to work 
along the beach or plunge into the woods. 

There seemed very small chance of success, in the midst 
of this darkness and storm, either way, but they felt sure 
that some accident had happened to the Captain, and they 
were eager to help him. After talking it over, they decided 
upon the right-hand or southern shore of the island, because 
that was to leeward, and better sheltered, and marched on as 
rapidly as they could. They had no strength to talk, but 


The Ice Queen . 213 

hand-in-hand pushed ahead, stopping now and then to shout, 
but never getting an answer. 

“ There’s one good thing about this storm,” Tug remarked, 
after a while, as they halted to rest in a sort of cleft in the 
rock. “ Those confounded dogs will be likely to stay in- 
doors and not bother us.” 

“ I wonder where they keep themselves at night ?” 

" If our island is like the rest, this limestone rock is full 
of caves. There’s no telling, for instance, how deep this 
here opening we’re sitting in goes back ; and in some of the 
Puddin’ Bay [Put-in-Bay] islands big caves have been ex- 
plored that people go away into to see the stalactites. 
There are plenty of rocky holes, therefore, where they could 
find good shelter and beds of leaves that the wind had 
blown in. But we must get out of this, Youngster.” 


Chapter XXYII. 

ANOTHER ENCOUNTER WITH THE WILD DOGS. 

They trudged slowly on again until they thought they 
must be close to the farther end of the island, when they 
found progress interrupted by a low headland of rocks part- 
ly covered by the brush of a fallen tree-top. In trying to 
get past it they became entangled in the branches, and Tug 
said he “ ’lowed they’d have to light the lantern.” 

With great care, therefore — for matches w T ere precious — 
this was done, and its rays at once showed them that they 
were not the first persons who had been there that night. 
Branches were freshly broken, and the snow was trampled. 
They set up a combined shout (and bark) as soon as this 
was perceived, but nothing came back except the dull echo 
of their voices and the rustle of the sleet and snow among 
the leafless and dripping branches. 

“Well,” said Tug, when he realized this, “our cue is to 
follow the tracks anyhow.” 

Crushing through the branches, they saw that the tracks, 
which had approached from the other side of the rocks and 


The Ice Queen . 


215 


brush, led them to the trunk of the tree, and that then 
Aleck (if, indeed, it were he who had made them) had walked 
along the trunk towards its roots. Of course they followed, 
Tug going ahead with the lantern ; but when they arrived 
at the great base of upturned roots they could not see where 
Aleck had leaped off, or that he had leaped off at all. On 
one side the snow lay smooth and untouched ; on the other, 
close under and around the mass of dead roots, was a little 
thicket of low bushes and a shoulder of black rock. Be- 
yond these the snow had not been disturbed. 

This was very mysterious, and chilled their hearts with a 
nameless fear. They came close together on the high log, 
and talked almost in whispers. Jim held Tug’s arm with 
both hands, and trembled so that his teeth chattered, and 
the tears rolled down his cheeks ; while Tug himself, old 
and brave and strong as he was, was so scared (as he often 
said afterwards) that every creak and moan of the laboring, 
ice-coated trees seemed a frightful voice, and all the flitting 
lights and shadows cast by their lantern among the dark 
trunks and swaying hemlock branches took on shapes that 
it chilled his blood to look at. Even Bex seemed to catch 
the panic, and cowered at their feet with bristling hair. 

There had been only a moment of this helpless, causeless 
terror — and no doubt they would quickly have thrown it 
off — when they were roused by a real danger, which they 


2l6 


The Ice Queen . 


knew in an instant. All ghosts and goblins, forms and 
voices, vanished at once, for they beard the wolfish howl of 
the dreaded dogs. 

“ Only mastiffs or hounds,” you may exclaim, “ such as 
we pass on the street every day, and babies play with, roll- 
ing over and on them unharmed !” 

Yery true; but these dogs had become savage again by 
their wild life ; and no traveller in his sledge on the steppes 
of Siberia, or postman belated in the Black Forest at New 
Year, was ever in more danger from wolves than were these 
two lads from the dogs, if the animals chose to attack them. 
Perhaps they had not yet been quite long enough in the 
wilderness to have overcome their once well-learned fear of 
men, and so would hesitate to attack, in open fight, the be- 
ings that heretofore had been their masters ; but this was 
all the hope the boys could have. 

“ The dogs !” cried Jim, in a hoarse whisper. 

“Yes,” said Tug, through his teeth. “Here! give me 
the lantern, quick : we must have a fire.” 

The tangle of dead roots was quite dry, and kindled 
easily when the lantern-candle was held against it, so that 
it was scarcely a minute before a bright blaze was crack- 
ling. 

That moment had been enough, however, for the near 
approach of the dogs, as they knew by the increasing loud- 


The Ice Queen . 


217 


ness of their cries, to which Rex bravely responded ; and 
it was not long before they heard them crashing through 
the underbrush, and saw their eyes — fiery pairs of dots 
which reflected the firelight in flashes of green or red — 
though the forms of the savage animals were hidden in the 
gloom. 

Tug had hastily lopped off a young sapling and trimmed 
it into a long, rough club, which he now held in the fire, in 
hope that the green wood would get hardened, or perhaps 
even ablaze. Jimmy clutched the hatchet tightly in his 
right hand, and his open jackknife in his left, while Rex 
bristled and barked. All the goblin fright had vanished, 
and the boys no longer trembled because sleet and wind 
made uncanny noises, or the firelight seemed to summon 
eldritch forms from the aisles of darkness between the 
hemlocks. 

There seemed to be three of the fierce brutes, and they 
stopped as they came in sight of the fire and the group 
ready to receive them ; but after a short pause the largest 
dog, with a tremendous bark, rushed forward, the others 
following savagely at his heels. Rex was crouching and 
ready, so that before either of the boys could seize his col- 
lar he had sprung to meet his foes, and had gone down 
under their combined weight. 

It was one of the strangest dog-fights known to history, 


2 I 8 


The Ice Queen. 


and had the strangest end. In his broad collar, his long 
hair, and his greater health the Newfoundland had the ad- 
vantage ; but he was. one and his foes were three, and they 
had no chivalrous ideas of fairness or mercy in a fight, but 
were savages, bent not only upon the death of their victim, 
but upon tearing him in pieces and devouring him after- 
wards. 

No sooner did Tug see Rex leap, and perceive the charge 
upon him, than he shouted “ Give it to ’em !” and sprang 
into the snow, punching the nearest brute, bayonet fashion, 
with the hot tip of his sapling spear, while Jim got in at 
least one good blow with his hatchet. It sank almost to 
the haft in the neck of one of the youngest dogs, and he 
dropped dead with scarcely a shudder. 

Meeting this unexpected resistance, so determined, fiery 
(Tug’s sapling bore a little streamer of flame, like the ban- 
ner on the head of a Cossack’s lance), and so fatal to one of 
their number, the two remaining dogs were abashed, and 
let go of Rex, intending to fight with their human assail- 
ants. But they had no time to make the change. Seeing 
that he must follow up his advantage, Tug charged again, 
and fairly put the startled brutes to flight by the combined 
force of his yells and his blazing bayonet, backed by Jim 
and his terrible hatchet. 

When the boys saw that the dogs had really run away, 


The Ice Queen. 


219 


they turned to look after their own brave ally, but he was 
nowhere to be seen, though the blazing stump lit up the 
whole scene of the battle. 

“Why, where’s Rex?” they asked one another, and 
called and whistled. Could he have fled into the forest ? 
Impossible. Hark ! was not that a faint whine ? — and an- 
other ? 

“ Do you think he can be dying, and has hid himself in 
the brush?” asked Jim. “They say wounded animals do 
do that.” 

“ Looks like it,” Tug admitted. “ Here, Bex /” 

A more distinct yelp, as though the dog was in pain, 
came to their ears, and they began to search in all the 
shadowy places. 

“ Poke up the fire a bit, Jimmy — let’s have a little more 
light.” 

Jim hastened to follow out this suggestion, and in doing 
so entered the little thicket which I have mentioned between 
the shoulder of rock and the log. Suddenly he pitched al- 
most headlong into a dark hollow. He drew back hastily, 
but as he did so, parting the bushes, he heard Rex’s yelping 
come plainly up, as though from beneath the sod. 

“ Hello ! Rex has fallen down a hole,” he exclaimed. 
“ Come here, Tug !” 

Sure enough, there was the mouth of a pit, how deep 


220 


The Ice Queen . 


they could not tell, though they could see the Newfound- 
land’s eyes shining at what did not seem so very great a 
distance. 

“ Why, Rex, old fellow, are you hurt ?” they called out ; 
and the dog answered by a short bark, which ended in a 
pitiful whine of pain. 

“ Get the lantern, Jim; we must try to see what kind of 
a place this is ; and look out where you step. This is a cave 
country, as I told you awhile ago. You may fall through 
’most anywhere in this darkness.” 

The lantern was- brought, and tied on the end of a pole, 
with a handkerchief. Rex began to utter a series of pecul- 
iarly short, sharp barks when he saw the light descending, 
and they knew he was dancing about by the way his eyes 
moved. 

When about twelve feet of the pole had been lowered 
the lantern rested, and they knew the bottom had been 
reached. By its faint glow Rex could be seen standing on 
his legs, apparently not much hurt. 

“ There’s something else down there that Rex seems to 
bother himself about a good deal,” reported Jim, who was 
lying down and peering over the edge. “ Move the lantern 
this way a little. It looks — Oh, Tug, it’s a man ! — it’s 
Aleck, and he’s dead 1” 


Chapter XXYIII. 

THE ACCIDENT EXPLAINED. 

How to get down into the pit was now the great ques- 
tion. Guided by the light of the fire, steadily eating its 
way into the butt of the log in spite of the storm, they cut 
down a small tree and lopped off its branches in such a way 
as to make a rude ladder. Though they were in so great a 
hurry, this was slow work with their dull hatchet. Lower- 
ing it carefully into the pit until its end rested firmly, Jim 
held the top, while Tug went down, took the lantern, and 
approached the motionless form, whose face Hex was lick- 
ing. The instant the light fell upon the face he saw that it 
was the Captain’s. 

“ It is Aleck !” he called out. “ Come down.” 

“Is he dead?” asked Jim, as he scrambled down the 
break-neck ladder. 

“ Ho,” said Tug, who was kneeling by the lad’s side. 
“ His face is warm, and I can feel his heart beat. He’s only 
stunned. Where’s that brandy Katy sent ?” 

“ It’s in my overcoat pocket up on the ground — I’ll get 


222 The Ice Queen . 

it.” And Jim scrambled up the hemlock trunk, fearless of 
a tumble. 

“Now pour a few drops between his lips,” said Tug, 
when the boy had got back, at the same time lifting Aleck’s 
head upon his knee. “ Oh, if only we had some water ! 
Get out !” 

This last was addressed to Rex, who was in the way ; but 
it also answered the boy’s prayer, for, in starting back, the 
dog stepped into a pool of water that lay upon the bottom 
of the cave. So crystal clear and quiet was this little pool 
in the lone and silent chamber of rock, that even when they 
knew it was there, and were dipping the water up with 
their hats, they could not tell by lantern-light where its 
edge was, or how near were their hands to the surface be- 
fore they felt its icy chill against their knuckles. 

The dashing of this cold, pure water upon his face, and a 
few drops of the spirits, served to awaken Aleck very 
speedily, though at first his ideas were much confused. 

“ Where am I ?” was his first utterance, as it has been that 
of thousands of others in like case; and several minutes 
passed before he was able to sit up and talk to them. 

“ I suppose — you fellows — ” he began to say, presently, 
in a stammering sort of way, “ would like — to know— what 
I’m doing — down here.” 

“ Well, Captain,” said Tug, who would have liked to 





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“‘IS HE DEAD?’ ASKED JIM.” 


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V i l 





The Ice Queen . 


225 


dance a jig, but was afraid to, and could only bug the dog 
to express his joy — “ well, Captain, we don’t want to be im- 
pertinent, Jim and me, nor what you might call inquisitive , 
in regard to what ain’t none o’ our business ; and we hope 
we’re not intrudin’ on you here ; but if you are willing to 
explain one or two matters, we’d be glad to listen.” 

“ Why, I — got so tired — tramping round in the storm — 
that when I got to that brush-heap — and rocks — out there, 
I thought — I thought — I’d go up in the woods — and camp. 
So I came up along that big log, and stepped off — and that’s 
the last I remember. But I know I’ve a frightful head- 
ache, and I wish I was home.” 

Home! Where? In Monore? That roof was shelter- 
ing other heads. In Cleveland ? That seemed farther 
away than ever. The fisherman’s cottage? Ah, Katy 
would make that a home to the wounded lad, if only they 
could get him there ! 

“ Do you think you could walk ?” Tug asked, anxiously. 

“ Yes, if I was out of this, and could get warm.” 

“Well, there is a fire up there, and this ladder is not 
long. Drink the rest of this brandy : I know you hate it, 
but it’s only a trifle, and it will give you strength for your 
climb ; and then you can rest a bit, while we get the dog 
out. Here, Bex !” 

To do this, Tug went half-way up the ladder, and Jim 
15 


226 


The Ice Queen . 


handed up their shaggy companion, after which Tug lifted 
him to where he could scramble out. 

Then Aleck, by slow stages and with much help, reached 
the top, and was wrapped in overcoats, while he sat by the 
fire until his chilliness was gone, and he had eaten some of 
the food Katy had sent. This done, he felt able to begin 
his journey homeward. Meanwhile, Tug went into the pit 
to bring out Aleck’s gun and the lantern. Standing on 
the brink of the black water, he tossed a pebble, but failed 
to strike the opposite wall. Then he hurled another with 
all his strength, and, after a time, heard it splash in the 
water. How far away lay the other end of the cave, or to 
what depths underneath this cavern-lake the cave-floor de- 
scended, he never knew. He realized how narrow had been 
the escape of all, and the strange coincidence by which they 
had been led to this spot, and had discovered the hidden 
mouth of the pit ; and he thanked God, who had preserved 
their lives. 

The dull gray of the dawn was lighting up the driving 
rain, the slushy snow, and the drenched and dripping trees, 
when the weary boys, supporting their almost worn-out 
leader, crept down the rough hill, and approached the little 
cottage. Katy had seen them coming, and stood waiting in 
the door, looking herself as though she had not slept much 
that sad night. 


The Ice Queen. 


227 


“ Oh, Aleck !” was all she could say, as she threw her 
arms around her brother’s neck, “must you always be the 
one to get hurt for us ?” 

“ I hope not, sis,” he said, with a smile, and sank, ex- 
hausted, into a bunk. 

Then with quiet swiftness the girl heated water, washed 
the wounds in Aleck’s head, and hastened to boil the corn- 
meal mush and the coffee, which formed the best break- 
fast she was able to give. Meanwhile she told how she 
had passed the night, making her story so bright, and bust- 
ling about so cheerily, that she did more to restore the tired 
boys than, in her absence, all their pulling off of soaked 
boots and stretching upon soft mattresses of springy boughs 
would have done. 

“ After waiting a long, long time — it must have been 
until after midnight,” Katy began the story of her night, 
“ I had dropped asleep in my chair before the fire, when 
I was waked up by something scratching at the door. I 
knew in a minute it was those dreadful dogs, and I was aw- 
fully scared.” 

“After we beat them off they must have come directly 
here,” Tug remarked. “ Were there more than two?” 

“No, but two were quite enough,” Katy replied; and 
then continued her narrative : 

“ I should have liked to have got under the bed, only 


228 


The Ice Queen . 


there wasn’t any bed, and so I — what do you suppose? 
— I got the butcher-knife and a big stick, and climbed up 
into the top berth. They growled and grumbled around 
the door, and scratched and butted at it, and every little 
while one or both of them would stand upon their hind- 
legs and look in at the window with their horrible green 
eyes. Ugh! I don’t want to go through another such a 
night !” 

“ Nor I !” exclaimed all three of her listeners, in chorus, 
each thinking of his own separate experience. 

“ Passed unanimously !” cried Katy. “ Now come to 
breakfast.” 


Chapter XXIX. 

DECIDING UPON A NEW MOVE. 

The warm rain continued all that day and the next 
night, while the boys rested, except that Tug went to his 
set-lines and brought back a fine pike of about six pounds’ 
weight, which gave them a good dinner. By the next 
morning the snow had nearly all melted away, and the sun 
shone warm, while great glistening pools of water lay spread 
out upon the ice. It was evident that the long-delayed 
January thaw had come at last. 

The disappearance of the snow brought several things to 
light that they had not seen before. Bits of iron and gen- 
eral rubbish appeared about the door. A heap of snow 
which they had thought concealed a bowlder, exposed by its 
melting an old flat-bottomed skiff, turned upside down, and 
under it lay a torn sail, with its mast. Behind the house 
Tug found several articles he thought “ might come handy 
among the rest a short piece of lead pipe, which he seized 
upon at once. Then, while Aleck and Jimmy walked out 
to look at the traps, Tug built a hot fire, and went to work 
at making bullets of the lead. He melted his old pipe in a 


230 


The Ice Queen. 


piece of tin, which he had hammered into a spoon, and 
dropped the molten metal into cold water. The bullets, or 
shot, were not all of the same size, and were more pear- 
shaped than round ; but by whittling and hammering they 
did very well, and in two hours he had a handful. 

“Now,” said he, with a vengeful tone in his voice, “just 
let me get a shot at those or’nary curs !” 

Later, Aleck came back, reporting no birds, but bringing 
a small pickerel. 

“ But I saw another flock of cross-bills, and I’m going to 
take my ‘pitchfork’ and go after them,” Jimmy added, 
eagerly ; and at once went out, while Katy put on her hat 
and started for a short walk. 

“Aleck,” said Tug, when they were alone, “I have 
wanted a good chance to talk with you about the fix we’re 
in. I feel sure that, snug as we are, it’s no good to stay 
here.” 

“ How are we going to get away ? Our boat is useless for 
ice travel, now that the sledge is gone, even if we save her 
in decent condition, which we must see about this afternoon.” 

“I have been looking at that little scow down on the 
shore. She is big enough to carry us in water, and I be- 
lieve we could put a couple of low runners on her bottom, 
so as to move over an ice-field. Come with me and have a 
look at her.” 


The Ice Queen . 


231 


So the two lads went down to the old boat, and looked 
her carefully over, discussing all the repairs she would need, 
and how they could be made. 

“But why don’t you think we could stay here longer?” 
Aleck asked, after a time. 

“ Because,” his companion replied, “ we have allnost no 
ammunition and almost no fishing-tackle. In a week from 
now we should have to live wholly on what we could catch 
in fishing and by traps, and we get so little now that I 
think it foolish to risk it if we can get a chance to escape. 
I reckon it’ll freeze up hard again in a few days, but for the 
last time this winter. Probably the ice’ll break up so badly 
next time it thaws that we couldn’t sledge on it ; and after 
that, you know, come the long, stormy months of spring, 
when, if we tried sailing, our boat wouldn’t keep afloat with 
four people in it during a journey across the lake. If we 
can’t get away over the ice before the next break-up, I be- 
lieve we’re goners.” 

“ It can’t be very far to the mainland ; but the weather 
has always been so thick I never could see far southward,” 
Aleck remarked. 

“ It’s clear to-day,” said Tug. “ Let’s go and take a look.” 

Inspired with hope, the two comrades, forgetful of every- 
thing else, hastened up the hillside, and soon reached the 
pinnacle of rocks that formed their lookout. 


232 


The Ice Queen . 


The air was clear, the sky cloudless, and the first glance 
southward showed them, faint upon the low horizon, yet 
distinct enough to be unmistakable, the long, dark line of 
the mainland. Between them and it all lay white, mixed 
with blue — a plain of ice covered with thin patches of rain- 
water. They could not see more than eight or ten miles ; 
but in no direction except on the northern horizon (towards 
the centre of the lake) was there any sign of open water. 
They hoped, and this helped them to believe, that between 
them and the shore lay an unbroken plain of ice. 

“ If that is so,” said Aleck, “ and it will only come on 
cold before it snows, we could skate right across.” 

“ Take us a couple of days, you’ll find,” Tug replied. 

“ Pshaw ! it can’t be more than twenty miles.” 

“ Yes, but we’re not so strong as we were when we started. 
We’ve none of us really had a square meal for a fortnight, 
and some of us have been knocked on the head, you know, 
and that don’t help a man any.” 

u At any rate, it will be best to get ready right away.” 

“ That’s my ticket,” Tug replied. “ By the way, can we 
see the Red Erik? Oh, yes, there she is — all right, I 
reckon.” 

“ Yes, she appears to be.” 


Chapter XXX. 

KATY TAMES THE WILD DOGS. 

When half-way down the hill on their return they saw 
Katy, who had been at the beach, wave her handkerchief, 
and turn to come and meet them. At the same instant 
they caught sight of wolfish figures stealing along among 
the rocks and bushes at the base. 

“ The wild dogs !” both exclaimed, in the same breath, 
and both felt their blood stop flowing for an instant, for 
in a minute or two more Katy would meet the brutes, and 
she must do so before they could get there to help her. 
The} 7 shouted to her, as they hurried at neck-breaking speed 
down the rough ledges ; but she did not hear or did not un- 
derstand them, and then they lost sight of both her and the 
dogs behind some bushes. A moment later they saw her 
again, but with what surprise ! 

The girl stood in the middle of a smooth, grassy plat, 
facing the three dogs, which were gathered in a group, the 
father of the family in front, and only a few feet from her. 
All were silent, and the big one was stretching his neck 
forward, as if debating whether he dared lead his mate and 


234 


The Ice Queen . 


the pup any closer. Katy caught a glimpse of the boys, 
and quickly raised her right hand, as though signing to 
them not to advance ; but she never took her eye off the 
animals, nor ceased to speak to them in coaxing tones, while 
she held out her left hand beckoning them to come nearer. 
Thus far this had had no effect. The big leader could not 
make up his mind to trust her, though as yet he showed no 
disposition to attack. 

“What shall we do?” Aleck whispered to Tug, in an 
agony of suspense. “ She can’t keep that up long. Let us 
rush in.” 

“All right,” Tug whispered back; “but we must get a 
stone or a club ! ’Twon’t do to go at ’em naked-handed.” 

Clubs were not handy, but each took heavy stones in 
both hands, and began a stealthy advance. At that same in- 
stant they saw the foremost dog begin to wag his tail slowly, 
while, one by one, as it were, the hairs upon the back of 
his neck were lowered. The lads halted, and watched the 
scene with astonishment and anxiety. Katy still spoke 
coaxingly, and at last took a gentle step forward. The 
dog, though suspicious, still wagged his tail. She quietly 
walked backward three or four steps, and sat down upon a 
bowlder — an act which the lesser dogs behind at once 
imitated. “ Good dog ! fine fellow ! come here ; come, 
Tiger,” she said, over and over, changing the name every 


The Ice Queen. 


235 


time in hopes of hitting some one that might have been 
this mastiff’s before he was an outcast. Finally, as she 
sat there with her eyes steadily on his, and beginning to feel 
very tired, the animal’s big square face suggested a picture 
she had seen of a German prince, just then beginning to 
become famous. 

“Why, Bismarck!” she called out, in confident tones, 
“don’t you know me? and don’t you want a bone? Good 
old Bismarck !” 

She knew instantly that she had hit it. The dog dropped 
his ears and hung his head, walked slowly up, and laid his 
great muzzle, big as a tiger’s almost, in her lap, while slowly 
and suspiciously his followers came nearer and nearer to her 
by slow advances. 

“ Well, I vum !” muttered Tug, in utter amazement, while 
Aleck was too astounded to say even that much. “I’m ’fraid 
we shall spoil that very pretty tea-party unless we sneak 
home another way; and I ’low two or three bullets in the 
gun would do no harm.” 

But their first movement was heard. The mastiff lifted 
his head, erected his mane, and with a hoarse growl sprang 
towards the lads. Katy was terribly frightened, but kept 
her presence of mind. 

“Bismarck !” she commanded sternly, “keep quiet ! come 
back here, sir !” and the great dog, growling and showing 


236 The Ice Queen . 

his teeth, stopped his course, and slowly returned to his 
mistress. 

“ Boys,” the girl called out, when she saw this, “ go right 
along, and pay no attention to the dogs. When I see you 
safely near the house I’ll come. Don’t be alarmed for 
me.” 

“ Come on, Tug,” said Aleck ; “ the sister knows best.” 

Just before they reached the door they turned and saw 
her walking slowly towards them, the huge, lean father-mas- 
tiff close by her side, quiet and submissive, and the mother 
of the wild crew following tamely in his footsteps ; while the 
whelp, that had never known, as the older dogs had, what 
it was to have a human master, straggled along behind, ap- 
parently in great doubt whether his respected parents had 
not lost their senses. 

Tug hastily entered the house, and quickly appeared at 
the window with his gun at his shoulder, ready to shoot 
if the mastiff showed any signs of treachery ; but he did 
nothing of the sort. Forty yards or so from the house, 
however, he declined to go any farther, and Katy, without 
once looking round, walked steadily on to the door, where 
her brother caught her in his arms, almost at the point of 
fainting, for the strain upon her nerves had nearly ex- 
hausted her strength, 


Chapter XXXI. 

ABANDONING THE ISLAND. 

After luncheon the three boys went over to inspect their 
old boat, and came back towards evening, bringing the oars, 
some straps of iron that had guarded her keel, the drag- 
ropes, and one or two other things. They had succeeded in 
pulling the boat ashore, but she had been too badly damaged 
to be of any further use to them. 

Three days were now occupied busily in shooting, fish- 
ing, and putting runners on the scow. These runners were 
simply strips of board (which they had taken from the 
house) about four inches wide and fourteen feet long — the 
length of the boat’s bottom. With the iron from the sled 
runners and from their own boat they shod these boat run- 
ners rudely, and strengthened the frame. 

During this time the dogs had been almost always within 
sight, and their near approach during the night would fre- 
quently awaken the sleepers in the cabin, Rex quickest, 
of course. Katy was sure that if the animals could have 
been fed they would speedily have become docile ; and when 
Tug proposed to shoot them for food, everybody resisted, 


238 


The Ice Queen . 


at least, until they should be in a worse strait than now. 
Nevertheless it was probably fortunate for the mastiff family 
that it kept out of gun-range. 

The next and last day of their stay on the island was very 
cold, and a heavy wind brought hosts of birds, so that they 
captured twenty snow-flakes, and shot over thirty cross- 
bills, red-polls, and other small fry, which were placed on 
the roof as fast as obtained, where they froze solid, and thus 
kept fresh. This made Katy the most happy of all, for she 
alone knew that everything was gone except about two 
messes of coffee and one potful of corn-meal mush. 

“Now, if only we could catch a big fish, we should be 
fixed grandly,” said Jim, as he went out to look at and bring 
home the lines. When he came back, however, he wore 
the long face and empty hands of disappointment, but left 
one line in hope of taking something during the night. 

At sunset the gale went down, the stars glistened like 
gems, and the frost showed no signs of ceasing. By the 
light of a great fire of drift-wood on the beach the little 
scow was partly loaded, and then all hands went for the last 
time to their mattresses of hemlock boughs. What was 
ahead they had little notion, but they were now used to 
peril, and eager to begin their journey, not only because 
each one felt that he could scarcely be worse off, but from 
the excitement of commencing new adventures. 


invk/o u. x\j auoi uiviai y Uila 















































































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The Ice Queen . 241 

The morning of departure dawned clear and cold, con- 
tinuing the promises of good weather. 

Jim’s early visit to his set-line next morning yielded him 
one small pickerel, while the traps gave a solitary snow-bird. 
These, with some other feathered mites, Katy cooked, while 
Aleck and Tug finished the packing. It was not a bad 
breakfast, you may think, for shipwrecked persons, but try 
it once for yourself — fish fried in bacon grease, some frag- 
ments of stewed snow-bird, and weak coffee. No bread, no 
butter, no potatoes, no green relish, no hot cakes, no any- 
thing except pickerel and weak coffee. But they thought 
it the best meal they had had on the island ; and after a 
hasty washing and stowing of dishes they buckled on their 
skates, took their familiar places at the drag-ropes, and with 
a cheer started southward, steering by the compass. 

Their old enemies came dashing down the hillside as the 
expedition took up its march, and stood upon the beach, 
seeming greatly astonished at the departure of the people at 
the cottage. Kex barked an angry farewell, which caused 
them to race out upon the ice as though to punish him for 
his impertinence; but they stopped short of bullet-range, 
greatly to Tug’s disgust, and presently turned and trotted 
back to resume their wild career. When last seen they were 
prowling about the deserted house, trying to push their way 
into the door, or to break through the glass of the little 

16 


242 


The Ice Queen . 


window. I have no doubt they succeeded; and I hope 
that they managed to exist until the fishermen came the 
next summer and took them -off, for, after all, these dogs 
knew no different way of acting, and therefore could not 
be blamed for their savagery, even though it was needful 
that our heroes should guard against it. 

The ice was in good condition, and the skaters made fair 
progress, so that by noon the dusky line of the mainland 
was plainly visible ahead. 

At last Jim called out that he couldn’t skate another 
stroke, and threw himself down, utterly “ done for.” Aleck 
ordered a halt at once, and began to build a small fire — 
for fuel had not been forgotten. Nobody understood how 
fatigued they had become by the unwonted exercise in their 
weak condition, until they found that an hour’s halt seemed 
of little account, and decided to make it two. After that 
they went on slowly and lamely until near sundown, by 
which time the island had almost disappeared, and the main- 
land was growing distinct. Then they camped, stewing 
snow-birds for supper, and making a big corn-meal cake, 
which they baked in the skillet. Immediately afterwards 
beds were made up on the cargo, underneath the canvas, 
and each one slept as well as he could. 

The next day several hummocks stood in the way, and 
just about noon they came to a channel of open water about 


The Ice Queen. 


243 


a mile wide. It was not rough, and they slid their boat over 
the edge of the ice into the water without any difficulty. 

“ If we had only known- enough to have made us a good 
boat of this shape before starting, we should have got along 
much better,” Aleck told them, and they all agreed with 
him, talking it over while they picked a few lean, and very 
cool bird-bones for luncheon before beginning the ferriage. 

The load sank the weak scow so deeply that the water ran 
into cracks in her side, despite their calking ; and as they 
w T ere afraid to embark the whole expedition, two trips were 
made. This w T as slow and freezing work ; and when finally 
all had got across, and had skated on about a mile, everybody 
was so cold and tired and sore that a camp was made under 
the shelter of a tall hummock. Aleck comforted the pride 
of the younger ones, who worried over their exhaustion, 
by telling them it was because they were so nearly starved ; 
but this was poor consolation, they thought, so long as there 
seemed no chance for any increase in their supplies, or 
means of regaining their strength. 

“Now,” he remarked, “see what we have for supper to- 
night — two snow-birds and a small piece of corn-bread apiece. 
That would not make a full meal for one of us. If any ac- 
cident prevents our getting ashore to-morrow I don’t know 
what we shall do, for we have only enough food for break- 
fast, and a ‘ powerful weak ’ one at that !” 


2 44 


The Ice Queen. 


“ That’s hardest on me,” said Tug, “ for breakfast is my 
strong point. If I can have only one meal a day, I want to 
take it in the morning.” 

“ That’ll be your fix to-morrow, I guess,” was the gloomy 
rejoinder. 

The next day’s run was a slow one, for the ice was bad in 
many places, and several hummocks had to be explored to 
find passable crossing-places. They could sight islands off 
at their left, but the nearest was several miles away ; and 
though they knew they belonged to the Put-in-Bay group, 
they did not think it would pay to swerve from their course 
so long as the ice permitted them to advance towards the 
mainland. So they kept on, and the shore came nearer and 
nearer, until they could see that they were entering a great 
“ bight,” and that one mass of land, three or four miles tow- 
ards the left,- which they had taken for an island, was really 
a headland ; so they shaped their course for it. 

Near the beach stood a little house surrounded by small 
fields and hemmed in by the leafless woods. Towards this 
cottage they made their way, and its owner evidently saw 
them coming, for a grizzled old man, helping himself with 
a cane, hobbled down to meet them as they approached the 
beach. 


Chapter XXXII. 

AN ASTONISHED FARMER. 

“ Wall, I swanny !” was the farmer’s exclamation, as be 
stared at the strange-looking outfit invading his shores. 
“ Who be ye ? and where did ye come from ?” 

They began to tell him, and at every sentence his “ Wall, 
I swanny !” was thrown in, to show the astonishment with 
which he listened. At last he seemed to recollect himself. 

“ Ye mus’ be drea’ful tired — nigh about beat out — and 
cold, too. Come into the haouse and git suthin’ to eat. 
There ain’t nobody to hum, but I guess I can find ye 
suthin’.” 

Something ! Why, my dear reader, they found, in the 
buttery and milk-room and cellar of that little house on the 
shore, a dinner the like of which, for goodness, they believed 
never was equalled. They ate and ate, laughing and almost 
crying by turns over their good fortune, the happiness of 
feeling safe and warm again taking off their hearts a load, 
whose weight they had not appreciated until it was re- 
moved. Meanwhile the old gentleman gossiped on in a 
pleasant strain. 


246 


The Ice Queen. 


“ My wife,” he told them, “ has gone down to the Port 
to see da’ter an’ her husband, for a day or two. My son, 
he runs on the Lake Shore Railroad in the winter, and 
so I’m alone. They wanted me to go down to the Port, 
too, but I don’t think any great things of the feller Sa- 
manthy married, and I told mother I ’lowed I’d be more 
comf ’able stayin’ home ’long with the cow and the chick- 
ens.” 

“What is this Port you speak of, sir?” Aleck asked 
him. 

“ What ? Why, Port Linton, to be sure — don’t ye know 
where that is? Oh, I forgot, ye’re lost, ain’t ye. He ! he ! 
Wall, Port Linton is a town on the railroad, and also on the 
shore, to the west’ard o’ here, or, leastways, to the suthard, 
’cause we’re out on a pint here, and the Port is up at the 
head of the bay, behind the big ma’sh. Ye could see it if 
’twan’t for them big sycamores. ’S about five mile ’cross 
the water.” 

“ Can you let us stay with you to-night, and to-morrow 
we’ll go on to the Port ?” 

“ Oh, yes, ye can stay, an’ welcome. If mother was home 
I’d hitch up and take ye in, but I ain’t got no horse to-day, 
so I s’pose that’s the best thing ye can do. But you’ll have 
to double up some, ’cause I ain’t got four beds.” 

Their rich supper and deep sleep and full breakfast made 


WA’AL t I DECLARE ! 









The Ice Queen. 


249 


a new crew of them, and next morning they were eager to 
get on. It seemed as though ages had passed since they 
had been in civilization, and Tug began to wonder whether 
he would recognize a railway car when he saw it. When 
they were ready to go, Aleck heartily thanked the kind old 
farmer for his hospitality, and asked how much he should 
pay him for their entertainment. 

“ Oh, I don’t want nothin’ — nothin’ at all,” he said. 
“ You’re what they might call mariners in distress, and I 
just helped you as well as I could. I ain’t done nothin’, an’ 
I don’t want no money.” 

“Oh, but we have eaten so much, and made you so 
much trouble. I shall not feel right unless you let us pay 
you.” 

“ Wall, if you’re so earnest about it, I ’low a dollar would 
be about right. I reckon ye didn’t hurt me mor’11 about 
that’s worth.” 

Surely this was small enough, but the farmer was entirely 
satisfied, and said he was sorry to say good-bye. 

They had swung along over the ice in good style after 
leaving the farmer’s cottage, and the buildings and ice-bound 
shipping of the village, which in summer was a busy 
port, but in winter was sleepy enough, were now in plain 
view. 

There was to be the end of their troubles so far as the 


250 


The Ice Queen . 


present scrape was concerned, but they were not a great deal 
nearer Cleveland than when they started ; and their minds, 
relieved of present anxieties, began to be crowded with 
thoughts of the future, and how they were going to accom- 
plish their purpose any better now than before they had 
started. 

They were to be aided, in this respect, in a way they had 
not suspected, however, and the help was now approaching 
in the shape of a skater who came on towards them with 
swift, strong strides. 


Chapter XXXIII. 

THE “TIMES” CORRESPONDENT. 

As this skater approached, they could see that he was a 
tall young man, wearing cap and gloves of sealskin, and a 
fur-trimmed overcoat. He had skates of the newest patent, 
and, altogether, seemed to be what Tug pronounced him un- 
der his breath, “ a swell.” 

He slackened his pace as he came up, and then, seeing the 
boat they were dragging, and the queer appearance of the 
whole outfit, stopped short, raising his hat to Katy. 

“ What kind of an expedition is this, pray tell?” he said 
pleasantly, but with his face full of curiosity. 

“ I’m ’fraid we ain’t any too scrumptious,” Tug replied, 
off-hand, “ but you could hardly expect it, I s’pose, seein’ 
we’ve been a month or more on the ice.” 

“A month on the ice! How? Where?” 

So they told him, each one talking a little, but making a 
short story of it. He did not interrupt by any “I swan- 
nys !” as the old farmer had, but kept his eyes — Katy thought 
they were the sharpest eyes she had ever seen — upon each 
speaker’s face, as if committing every word to memory. 


252 The Ice Queen. 

“ That’s a mighty good story,” he said. “ What are you 
going to do now ?” 

“ W e shall go on to my uncle’s in Cleveland right away, 
that is, if we have money enough to take us there.” 

“ I suppose you wouldn’t object to earning a little more 
money, then ?” the stranger remarked, interrogatively. 

“ Nothing would suit Tug and me better,” Aleck rejoined. 
“ Do you know how we can do it ? My name is Aleck Kin- 
caid, and this promising youth here is Thucydides, other- 
wise ‘ Tug,’ Montgomery. This is my sister Katy, and the 
youngster is my brother Jim.” 

“ I am Harry Porter,” the young man announced, shaking 
hands with them all, “ and I am glad to get acquainted with 
you. Now, sit down a minute, and I’ll make you a propo- 
sition. I live in New York city, and am on the staff of 
The Times , but am out here for a few days on a visit to 
my father. Your adventures would make a capital story 
— what we call a 6 sensation ’ — in that newspaper. Do you 
think you could write it out in good shape?” 

“I’m ^fraid not, sir,” Aleck said. “ I’ve never felt that 
I had any faculty in that direction — but I could make you 
an automatic brass valve if you wanted it !” 

*“ Could you ? That’s more than I could do. Well, now, 
yon see, you have the facts, but you must make use of my 
training to put them into readable shape, so that the story 


The Ice Queen . 


253 


will be worth money to some newspaper. I can see how 
two or three very good articles, indeed, can be made, and 
what I propose is this : you come to a boarding-house, 
kept by a friend of mine, in Port Linton, and stay there as 
long as is necessary to tell me everything. Then I can write 
it all into a connected story, and we’ll divide the profits.” 

“ But supposing The Times shouldn’t want to print it ?” 

“ I’ll take care of that,” Mr. Porter replied. 

“ But we would have to wait a good while to get the 
money back, wouldn’t we ?” Aleck asked. “ And we want 
it now worse than we ever shall again, probably.” 

“ Ye — es, that’s a difficulty,” Mr. Porter admitted, slowly. 
Then he thought over it a minute or two in silence. “ I’ll 
tell you what I’ll do,” he said at last, “ and I think I shall 
be safe. I estimate that you can give me facts enough for 
ten or twelve columns — say ten ; and that for this ‘special 
and exclusive ’ they will pay me twenty dollars, or more, a 
column. So if you are willing to take one hundred dollars 
for your information, I’ll run the risk of getting that back 
and another hundred on top of it for the labor of writing.” 

“I am sure that we shall be very glad to do it if you 
think you are not cheating yourself.” 

“That’s my lookout,” said the newspaper man. “And, 
now, Miss Kincaid, if you will take a seat in the boat, I 
think we should all regard it as a pleasure to draw you 


254 The Ice Queen. 

the rest of the way, for I mean to bear a hand at drag- 
ging.” 

Katy demurred, but all the boys insisted, so she unstrapped 
her skates, nestled warmly into the boat, where Mr. Porter 
folded his fur-trimmed coat about her, saying he should be 
too warm with skating to wear it, and they set off gayly. 

The plan thus made upon the ice was fully carried out, 
beginning that very evening, which was Friday ; and on 
Tuesday morning Mr. Porter gave Tug twenty -five dollars 
and Aleck seventy -five — the latter “for the family,” as he 
said. Besides this, they sold their scow for fifteen dollars, 
feeling that they had a right to do so, since, if the fishermen 
who had left it on the island (the name and position of 
which they learned) should ever return for it, they would 
find left in its place the Red Erik. 

The goods that they cared to keep were packed and sent 
on to Cleveland by freight. At nine o’clock on Tuesday 
morning, therefore, the four adventurers — yes, five> for Rex 
was not forgotten — feeling themselves already famous in 
New York, and hence around the whole world, took the 
train for Cleveland, and reached their uncle’s house in time 
for his one-o’clock dinner. All were heartily welcomed, 
and told their adventures again and again — in fact, until 
they became so thoroughly tired of being “trotted out” 
that Tug one day declared that he almost wished he had 
never left the island. 


Chapter XXXIV. 

A HAPPY CONCLUSION. 

All the members of our party, to whose courage and 
independence of mind my story has borne witness, imme- 
diately and anxiously exerted themselves to relieve their 
hospitable relative of the burden of their support, and it 
was not long before they succeeded. 

Aleck and Tug found profitable work to do. Katy was 
eager to resume her studies, and therefore gladly accepted 
an invitation to stay with her aunt and help her in her 
sewing before and after school-hours. Jim roomed with 
his brother, and went to school also, acting morning and 
evening as an office-boy for a lawyer to whom Mr. Porter 
had given him a letter of introduction. 

To prepare themselves for these different stations used 
up their stock of money, but by close economy they came 
through without any debt — yes, even with some money 
left — just nineteen cents among them all ! To this Tug’s 
pocket contributed nothing, but he was happy. “ There’s 
one great comfort in being ‘dead broke,’” he told them. 
“You know precisely where you are, and that matters 


256 The Ice Queen . 

can get no worse. You are ready to begin all new 
again.” 

This sense of beginning anew was a tonic that strength- 
ened the hearts of all of them ; for each one knew that, al- 
though he had no money, his feet were planted firmly on 
the first round of the ladder which, if steadily climbed, 
might lead to prosperity. 

With this satisfactory state of things the story might end, 
but twenty years and more have passed since that hard win- 
ter which made their journey to the island and escape from 
it possible ; twenty years, in which no such hard winter has 
been seen again. Aleck is manager and part owner of a 
manufactory of gas-fixtures and brass fittings in Pittsburgh, 
and Jim is his cashier. Tug lives in Cleveland, where he 
is busy, as an inventor, and expects some day to be made 
rich by his improvements in railway - brakes and in oil- 
pumping machinery ; but nobody addresses him as “ Tug” 
except his wife (whom he calls Katy) and his little boy, who 
never tires of hearing how papa and mamma and Uncle 
Aleck went adrift on an ice-floe in Lake Erie. 


THE END. 


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